Check out this mesmerizing dance of interacting galaxies captured by Hubble telescope

NASA's newest Galaxies Galore image features two interacting galaxies that lie between 50 and 60 million light-years away toward the constellation Leo, the Lion. Imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope, the spiral galaxy NGC 3227 can be seen wrapped in a turbulent gravitational dance with its companion, the elliptical galaxy NGC 3226.

In this Hubble image, faint tidal streams of gas and dust link the galaxy pair in their gravitational dance. Hubble looked at the duo, collectively known as Arp 94, as part of a program to measure black hole masses by observing the dynamics of gas at the centers of bright cluster galaxies.

NGC 3227 is an energetic type of galaxy, called a Seyfert galaxy. Powered by their active cores, Seyfert galaxies hold supermassive black holes at their cores. As matter spirals into the black hole, it releases vast amounts of radiation along the black hole's axis of rotation, giving the galaxy its active nucleus.

Ready for another #GalaxiesGalore image?Take in the view: the spiral galaxy NGC 3227 is seen here interacting with the elliptical galaxy NGC 3226.This duo is about 50 to 60 million light-years away from us, toward the constellation Leo.For more: https://t.co/9HQYqR4XVO pic.twitter.com/Bl08Y5bZQW

— Hubble (@NASAHubble) May 25, 2022