# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DBzVrQqJy5p
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/24519076-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/968e8d8c66.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-10-31T20:36:46.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

Don’t turn your back, don’t look away, and don’t blink!⁣
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Our @NASAWebb and @NASAHubble telescopes teamed up to keep an eye on a pair of galaxies that are… staring back? These glaring galaxies have eye-like cores that peer out from a bloody red mask; those grisly colors represent a combination of mid-infrared light from Webb with visible and ultraviolet light from Hubble.⁣
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To date, these galaxies have only grazed each other, but there is some possible evidence of the collision visible in this image. For instance, the bright red lines that make the “eyelids” are potential proof of material from the galaxies slamming together. Those lines may cause the appearance of the galaxies’ bulging, vein-like arms.⁣
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The galaxies’ first pass may have also distorted their delicately curved arms. The diffuse, tiny spiral arms between the left spiral’s core and its far-left arm may be an example of this activity. Even more tendrils look like they’re hanging between the galaxies’ cores. Another extension “drifts” off the top of the larger galaxy, forming a thin, semi-transparent arm that practically runs off this image.⁣
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Over millions of years, the galaxies might repeatedly swing by each other, melding their cores and arms together, eventually leaving behind a completely reshaped arms, and an even brighter, cyclops-like “eye” at the core. Star formation will also slow down once their stores of gas and dust deplete, and the scene will calm… and we can blink. 😌⁣
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Image description: Two spiral galaxies appear to be dazzling, unblinking eyes set in a bloody mask. The galaxy cores are bright yellow, while the spiral arms swirl around them in shades of pink, white, and blue. The right galaxy is bigger than the one on the left.⁣
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Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI⁣
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#NASA #Webb #JWST #Galaxy #Eerie #Halloween #Eyes #Astronomy

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## Tags

webb, nasa, halloween, galaxy, eyes, eerie, jwst, astronomy

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