Crossing Paths Two galaxies nicknamed the “mice” are merging together, forming a new one 300 million light-years from Earth. When the galaxies sideswiped each other long ago, they unraveled long tails of stars and gas. Image by Holland Ford, JHU; Garth Illingworth, UCSC/LO; Mark Clampin and George Hartig, STSCI/ACS; NASA; ESA From Exploring Space: The Universe in Pictures, 2004