Disorder in Stephan's Quintet.

What are four closely grouped galaxies doing in this image ? The grouping composes a majority of the large galaxies in Stephan's Quintet , with the fifth prominent galaxy located off the above image to the lower right . Three of these four galaxies show nearly the same redshift , indicating that they reside at the same distance from us. These three galaxies are in the midst a titanic collision , each ripping the others apart with gravitational tidal forces . The large bluish spiral below and left of center is a foreground galaxy much closer than the others and hence not involved in the cosmic battle . Most of Stephan's Quintet lies about 300 million light-years away towards the constellation of Pegasus .