# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CwnvUAJpQYq
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/8438646-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/241dbe7773.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-08-31T19:36:12.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

Rodents of Unusual Size 🐭⁣
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These twin galaxies are nicknamed “The Mice” due to their long tails of stars and gas stretching hundreds of thousands of light-years, due to gravitational forces likely from their last encounter approximately 160 million years ago. The galaxies will eventually merge, in about a billion years, into a single massive elliptical galaxy after colliding several times. The collision of The Mice may presage the eventual collision between Andromeda and our own galaxy, the Milky Way.⁣
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NASAHubble captured this view of the pair, located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, with its Advanced Camera for Surveys in blue, orange, and near-infrared filters. This image shows the most detail and the most stars ever seen in these galaxies; above the left galaxy, a bright blue patch contains a cascade of clusters of young, hot, blue stars.⁣
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Image description: Surrounded by black space dotted by small stars and galaxies, The Mice appear in blue, white, and brown in the center of the photo, connected with a smaller blue trail connecting them and large blue trail heading toward the upper-right part of the image.⁣
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Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and EuropeanSpaceAgency⁣
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#Mice #Mouse #PrincessBride #NASA #Space #Hubble #Galaxy #ESA #stars #galaxies #AsYouWish

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## Tags

nasa, hubble, galaxies, princessbride, space, asyouwish, galaxy, mouse, esa, stars, mice

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