It is understandable why Arp might have thought differently.
The following images are recent photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
The inset shows the original photographs as it appeared in the Atlas.
It consists of NGC 6621 (to the right) and NGC 6622 (to the left).
The encounter has pulled a long tail out of NGC 6621 that has now wrapped behind its body.
The collision has also triggered extensive star formation between the two galaxies.
This is the famous Whirlpool galaxy (NGC 5194) interacting with a smaller elliptical galaxy NGC 5195.
The image bears a striking resemblance to a penguin guarding its egg.
The Tadpole Galaxy located 420 million light-years from Earth has a massive tail of stars about 280,000 light-years long.
Arp 256 is system of two spiral galaxies in an early stage of merging.
Arp 272 shows a collision between two spiral galaxies, NGC 6050 and IC 1179.
The two spiral galaxies are linked by their swirling arms.
UGC 4881, known as the The Grasshopper, is a system consisting of two colliding galaxies.
It has a bright curly tail containing a remarkable number of star clusters.
