NASA. DEEP SPACE. LARGE FORMAT. Superb galactic portrait located some 120 million light-years from Earth. This large spiral galaxy has a brightly glowing core. Swirling streaks of dust glow to form an orange rose in the center. The whole is surrounded by a dark gray halo and the galaxy's own stars. This distorted galaxy is the wreckage of a head-on collision between two equally massive spiral galaxies around 500 million years ago. In reality, the spaces between stars in a galaxy are vast. When galaxies collide, their clouds of stars pass through each other like two clouds of smoke. The gas and dust in colliding galaxies interact, however, with spectacular results. The galactic collision that created this galaxy triggered a luminous explosion of star formation that can be seen in the brightest parts of this image. Vintage chromogenic print. Numbering in the margin on the front. Legend on label on back. 40.6 x 40.6CM with margins.