Recent surprising discoveries have led Hubble space telescope astronomers to rethink theories on a class of galaxies called ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRG). It was previously believed that only pairs of galaxies were interacting in ULIRGs, but recent photos from Hubble show multiple collisions of four or even five galaxies smashing together. The images, provided at this site, offer a glimpse of what conditions were like in the early universe when galaxy collisions were commonplace. Users can read the official press release and view a number of images in different sizes and formats at the above URL. Additional resources include two QuickTime movies of astronomer Dr. Kirk Borne discussing his new finding and describing one of the images, and links to related discoveries at the Hubble site.
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