This image strikes me as being extremely unlikely in reality.

• by musicmac

  I have to ask, what are the chances of two pairs of galaxies existing like this in close proximity and from what I see, mirroring each other. In my mind an unlikely image. Could they be a result of distortion of some kind?
  Dave.

  Posted September 16, 2012 1:22 AM

• by NukedPenguin

  I think its possible that they are different because the left galaxy has more space between it's two main masses, and there is also a minor mass in between, which the galaxy on the right doesn't have. One more thing, the top left mass is slightly more orange than any of the masses involved in the central image. It is simply chance that these 4 galaxies are merging, and they look similar in structure.

  Posted September 25, 2012 9:25 PM

• by pmj

  If you zoom out on Skyserver you can see they are separate objects. They are both marked separately.

  Posted September 25, 2012 9:37 PM

• by ElisabethB moderator

  Here we have two mergers going on. They could be quite near to each other, but we only have photoz's to go on. So my take on it is : two great mergers. And maybe sometime in the future these 4 will have a party !

  Posted September 25, 2012 9:40 PM

• by elizabeth_s

  Compact Group of Galaxies SDSSCGA 3 part of ABELL 2670 (cluster of galaxies) zookeeperKevin did a

  Object of the Day August 07, 2007, on the ABELL 2670

  Posted September 25, 2012 9:42 PM