"This is useful to uncover leftovers from galactic interactions,constraining the hierarchical process of cosmic structure formation."

Using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) located in the Atacama desert region of Northern Chile, astronomers have revealed five stunning portraits of galaxies in the local universe.

The images of these galaxies show their shapes, structures and distributions of stars in stunning and colorful detail. Some of the galaxies are located at the edge of the so-called “local group,” a galactic collection that includes our home, the Milky Way, while others are more distant.

The observations could help astronomers better understand cosmic evolution and how galaxies form stars as well as snatch other stellar bodies, gas and dust from neighboring galaxies via gravitational interactions.