These two spiral galaxies are in an early stage of merging. They have strongly disrupted shapes and an astonishing number of blue knots of star formation. The system, Arp 256, is located in the constellation of Cetus, the Whale, about 350 million light-years away. Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
