Ultimately, the universe experiences life and death in equal measure, but it's certainly not rare to see something change form; that's exactly what happens when galaxies of all shapes, sizes and colors meet and converge—they leave chaos in their wake until they eventually settle into new configurations.
The strange formation above is one example of a gravitational merger. The galaxies involved—known as NGC 5395 and NGC 5394, or simply Arp 84—can be found approximately 165 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Canes Venatici.
Clearly, this encounter hasn't reached a conclusion yet, as we see many telltale signs in its structure. One section suggests the smaller galaxy (NGC 5394) once pieced the central region of the larger one (NGC 5395), the aftereffect giving them the likeness of a blue heron.
See a larger image here.
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