Astronomers release pictures of a Milky Way twin

Astronomers release pictures of a Milky Way twinAstronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have released a picture of a galaxy far away, which looks very much like our Milky Way Galaxy resulting in many calling it a twin.

The NGC 6744 galaxy, which is 30 million light years away, resides in the southern hemisphere constellation of Pavo, said a statement from the ESO. It is about twice the size of the Milky Way Galaxy, which itself is 100,000 light years across.

"If we had the technology to escape the Milky Way and could look down on it from intergalactic space, this view is close to the one we would see," the statement read. "There is even a distorted companion galaxy… which is reminiscent of one of the Milky Way’s neighbouring Magellanic Clouds."

The astonishing picture of the NGC 6744 galaxy has been taken at the ESO's La SIlla Observatory, which includes a MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, in Chile, South America.