The International Year of Astronomy continues its celebration with a photo of triple galaxy group April 1 and 2. 140,000 people around the world voted on six potential targets; the Arp 274 galaxy group won with 67,000 votes.

Photo from Wired

For some reason I really want a Milky Way Dairy Queen Blizzard... Thanks to Wired for the photo and the following description.

Hubble's image suggests the galaxies may not be close enough together to interact as they appear to be in the image taken by the Palomar Observatory near San Diego.

The galaxies to the right and left show blueish lights, evidence of rapid star formation. Older stars are more yellow. The group is located in the constellation Virgo, 400 million light years away from Earth. The two bright stars at the right of the image are actually located in our own galaxy.

NASA held the contest as part of the International Year of Astronomy in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the telescope.

Also check out this strange giant galaxy, a cross between an elliptical and spiral galaxy.