Comments:
One of the most exciting star formations in the local Universe. It's a compact group of galaxies which are in the process of a massive cosmic collision. The group lies about 270 million light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus. The quintet comprises of NGC 7317, 7318A, 7318B, 7319, and 7320.

This astonishing group was first discovered by the French astronomer Edouard Stephan in 1877.

In this image you can see the long filaments of stars, dust lanes between the galaxies and weirdly distorted features. These are all indicitive of galaxies that have been subjected to violent encounters.