Zooming in on merging galaxies and a string of star formation in SDSS J1531+3414

This video shows a zoom into two galaxies from the cluster SDSS J1531 3414. The two galaxies have been found to be merging into one and a “chain“ of young stellar superclusters are seen winding around the galaxies’ nuclei. The galaxies are surrounded by an egg-shaped blue ring caused by the immense gravity of the cluster bending light from other galaxies beyond it. More information and download options: Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) a