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This image shows the galaxy NGC 3256. This picture was taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), both installed on the Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 3256 is an impressive example of a peculiar galaxy that is actually the relict of a galactic merger of two separate galaxies that took place in a distant past. The telltale signs of the collision are two extended luminous tails swirling out from the galaxy.
NGC 3256 belongs to the Hydra-Centaurus supercluster complex and provides a nearby template for studying the properties of young star clusters in tidal tails. The system hides a double nucleus and a tangle of dust lanes in the central region. The tails are studded with a particularly high density of star clusters. The galaxy is about 100 million light-years from Earth. As such, NGC 3256 provides an ideal target to investigate starbursts that have been triggered by galaxy mergers.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA
Image enhancement: Jean-Baptiste Faure
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