We recently posted the cosmic Jack-O-Lantern discovered by NASA. Now, those nerdy trick and treaters have found a cosmic ghost to go with the flaming pumpkin. What is wonderful about this picture is that it is actually quite scary when you learn how it was formed.
The image was taken in June of Arp-Madore 2026-424 system 704 million light-years from Earth. It is the result of a head-on collision, causing a ring that will last around 100 million years. It was formed by each of the disks of each galaxy being stretched out by the collision with an array of gas, dust and stars pulled into this shape. Each of the two glowing eyes are the center of a galaxy.