Astrophotographer Brandon O’Meal has managed to photograph a pair of colliding galaxies that exist about 130 million light-years from his backyard.
O’Meal captured the NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 galaxies colliding by shooting a “multitude” of five-minute exposures.
Speaking to PetaPixel, O’Meal said “I wanted to shoot that specific target, I find it unique and tougher to shoot due to its size and distance. Also, the interaction is fun to see.”
The NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 galaxies were also captured by the Gemini Observatory in Chile on August 25, 2013.
“The spiral galaxies are passing dangerously close to each other, but each is likely to survive this collision. Typically when galaxies collide, a large galaxy eats a much smaller galaxy,” NASA explains.