NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this picture of an overlapping galaxy pair labeled NGC 3314. The two galaxies may look like they are right on top of one another, or even colliding, but tens of millions of lights years separate them. We see the spiral of the closer galaxy from a face-on perspective, and the arms of the more distant galaxy appear to reach out from behind it.
Image: NASA.
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Rebecca J. Rosen is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where she oversees coverage of American constitutional law and government in the Battle for the Constitution series.