Spiderweb Galaxy

The Spiderweb Galaxy, also known as MRC 1138-262, is a distant, ancient radio galaxy that formed early in the history of the Universe. Because the galaxy is 10.6 billion light-years away, it is seen as it looked in the Universe's early formative years, only 3 billion years after the Big Bang.

The large and massive galaxy can be seen under assembly by the merging of smaller, lighter galaxies. Dozens of star-forming satellite galaxies can be observed in the process of merging into the larger whole.