Halloween is right around the corner, and people have terrifying decorations up, but who knew NASA would join the fun by posting a cosmically terrifying image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope?
A Ghoulish Face
According to RT, Hubble captured an image of two galaxies merged, 704 million light years away, named Arp-Madore 2026-424, which looks like a haunting image of a spooky face with eyes that are staring right through your soul.
The two bright "eyes" are the center of the galaxies, while the cosmic dust, gas, and stars are surrounding them from the "head," pulling and stretching the two galaxies all over the place due to the gravitational pull of both galaxies crashing together.
In celebration of #Halloween, Hubble has captured the collision of two galaxies of equal size that appears to resemble a ghostly face.https://t.co/rNI9jHN7W1
Credit: @NASA / @ESA , J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and M. Durbin (University of Washington) pic.twitter.com/5CviTTaGAI — HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) October 28, 2019
"The crash pulled and stretched the galaxies' disks of gas, dust, and stars outward. This action formed the ring of intense star formation that shapes the nose and face," NASA wrote in a post.
The Medusa's Head
The Arp-Madore system is not the only merging galaxy, nor is it the only one that has been captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Earlier this month, the Hubble Space Telescope, operated by NASA and the European Space Agency, has also captured the image of Medusa, or the merger system named NGC-4194 that resembled the snake-headed creature from Greek mythology due to the cosmic dust and gas surrounding it.
The system also acquired its unique shape due to the collision of two galaxies.
Unusual Merging
When it comes to merging galaxies, the larger of the two often gobble up the smaller one; however, the case of the spooky head is somewhat unusual since the two galaxies looked approximately the same size, meaning it is possible that they were also the same size before the crash.
The image of the spooky head and the ring will last for 100 million years, and by 1 to 2 billion years, the two galaxies will have merged into one single entity.
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According to Fox News, the image was captured by Hubble on June 19, but NASA has only recently posted it on their Twitter account just in time for the Halloween season.
Strange Phenomenon
It is not uncommon for people to see faces where there aren't. This is known as pareidolia, a psychological phenomenon that causes people to see a pattern in random places, such as finding a face in space where there isn't.
Aside from faces, people can also see other images, including what seems like Medusa's head in a merging system.
