Just in time for the holidays, NASA has released a new photo showing a spectacular light show created by a pair of merging galaxies 130 million light-years from Earth.

The photo is a composite image of the spiral galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163, located in the constellation Canis Major.

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Spiral galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163.

The image is a mash-up of X-rays captured by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory (shown in pink), visible light data from the Hubble Space Telescope (shown in red, green, and blue), and infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (shown in red).

What makes NGC 2207 and IC 2163 look so dazzling? Together, the galaxies are home to 28 separate "ultraluminous" X-ray sources. The X-rays they produce are more intense than those produced by most star systems. SUBSCRIBE AND FOLLOW Get the top stories emailed every day. Newsletters may offer personalized content or advertisements. Privacy Policy Newsletter Please enter a valid email address Thank you for signing up! You should receive an email to confirm your subscription shortly. There was a problem processing your signup; please try again later Twitter

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