The Earth-based image (left) of galaxy NGC 1741, in the constellation Eridanus about 150 million light years from our solar system, reveals only a peculiarly shaped galaxy with a vague double coreΓÇösuggestive, but by no means definitive, evidence that some- thing strange is going on. The image on the right, taken with the Hubble Faint Object Camera, offers a much more detailed view.
Astronomers believe the two groups of large bright points, both home to intense star formation, are actually the cores of colliding galaxies about 3,000 light years apart. Each point is thought to be 150 to 300 light years across and to contain anywhere from several hundred to a thousand new stars. Based on spectroscopic observa-
