In a new image from the Hubble Telescope, two galaxies are entangled in the "hair of the queen." Discover what's happening in this stunning photo.

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured two galaxies interacting in a way that has led to the formation of "knots in the hair of the queen," reports Space.

Astronomers from the European Space Agency (ESA), which operates the telescope in collaboration with NASA, have presented a new image from Hubble showing two galaxies collectively known as MCG+05-31-045.

This duo is located 390 million light-years away from us in the constellation Coma Berenices. In Latin, this name translates to Berenice's Hair, as the constellation was named after the Egyptian queen Berenice II, who ruled alongside her husband Ptolemy III in the 3rd century BC.

The image reveals that the larger elliptical galaxy is pulling gas from the smaller spiral galaxy, leading to the destruction of its spiral arms.

This interstellar gas serves as the "fuel" for new star formation in the elliptical galaxy. Meanwhile, the spiral galaxy will eventually be nearly devoid of gas, leaving only aging stars behind. According to scientists, this process will be completed in a few million years, and until then, "Queen Berenice will suffer from knots in her hair."

The elliptical galaxy at the center of the image has a distinctive oval shape and a bright core. To the left is its smaller companion, which has well-defined spiral arms. A stream of gas connects the two galaxies, emanating from one of the spiral arms of the smaller galaxy.

The pair of galaxies MCG+05-31-045 is part of a galaxy group known as the Coma Berenices cluster. Many galaxies in this cluster have undergone a similar merging process between a large and a small galaxy.

The Coma Berenices cluster contains over 1,000 galaxies, some of which can be seen in the background of the new Hubble image. Many galaxies in the cluster are elliptical, with some having previously been spiral galaxies, but they changed shape as a result of collisions with other galaxies.

As a result of such interactions between galaxies, as illustrated in the image, larger companions often experience a surge in star formation due to the influx of new gas from the smaller companion. At the same time, the latter often finds itself unable to create new stars afterward due to a lack of interstellar gas.