Hubble's Insight into the Complexities of Interpreting Galactic Imagery

NASA and ESA have shared a new photo from the Hubble Space Telescope showing a seemingly dense cluster of galaxies, but appearances can be deceiving in space photography. The largest spiral galaxy, NGC 1356, and two others, LEDA 467699 and LEDA 95415, look like they're close together, but in reality, they are hundreds of millions of light-years apart. The image highlights the challenge in interpreting celestial distances from two-dimensional images, as the actual proximity of these galaxies differs significantly from their angular separation in the sky.