The cores of two galaxies appear to leer like angry eyes in this new view by the two space telescopes.

Two colliding galaxies, dubbed NGC 2207 and IC 2163, provide the blue eye-like hearts seen in this composite image assembled from infrared data by Spitzer Space Telescope and visible observations with the Hubble Space Telescope.

The two mingling galaxies began to merge about 40 million years ago leading to a cosmic tug-of-war that is spurring new star formation. NGC 2207 and IC 2163 sit about 140 million light-years away towards the constellation Canis Major.

In about 500 million years, these two galaxies will cease to be two separate entities and meld into a single object, Spitzer astronomers said.

-- Tariq Malik

Credit: NASA, ESA/JPL-Caltech/STScI/D. Elmegreen (Vassar).