Compared to most spiral galaxies, this galaxy looks a little lopsided. The classic, centred shape of spiral galaxies is one with a bulge of old stars in the centre and arms of young stars spinning outwards. In this case, a neighbouring galaxy is pulling the blue arms of this galaxy to the right.

This dueling pair, captured by NASA's Hubble space telescope, is located 120 million light-years away in the constellation Cepheus. It is not unusual for galaxies to get close enough to engage in a celestial tug-of-war. Galaxies are not solid bodies, so gravitational attraction distorts their shape in a way similar to pulling a piece of cotton candy.

Image description:

A large spiral galaxy occupies most of the image and is tilted so that its centre extends towards the upper left. In a mix of cool blue and whitish-yellow light, we see it face to face with the smoky brown dust covering its blue, spiral arms. In the background, orange and white stars and galaxies punctuate the darkness of space.