Slideshow: Step Right Up, See the Universe

Located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, these colliding galaxies have been nicknamed "The Mice" because of the long tails of stars and gas emanating from each galaxy. Otherwise known as NGC 4676, the pair will eventually merge into a single, giant galaxy.

Against a stunning backdrop of thousands of galaxies, this odd-looking galaxy with the long streamer of stars appears to be racing through space, like a runaway pinwheel firework. This spiral galaxy, officially named UGC 10214 but dubbed the "Tadpole," is unlike the textbook images of stately galaxies. Its distorted shape was caused by a small interloper, a very blue, compact galaxy visible in the upper left corner of the more massive Tadpole. The Tadpole resides about 420 million light-years away in the constellation Draco.

The Omega Nebula seen here is a hotbed of newly born stars wrapped in colorful blankets of glowing gas and cradled in an enormous cold, dark hydrogen cloud. The region of the nebula shown in this photograph is about 3,500 times wider than our solar system. The area represents about 60 percent of the total view captured by the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the Hubble telescope. The nebula, also called M17 and the Swan Nebula, resides 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.