This image made by the Hubble Space Telescope and released by NASA Thursday, April 24, 2008, shows Arp 302, which consists of a pair of very gas-rich spiral galaxies in their early stages of interaction: VV 340A is seen edge-on to the left and VV 340B face-on to the right. An enormous amount of infrared light is radiated by the gas from massive stars that are forming at a rate similar to the most vigorous giant star-forming regions in our own Milky Way. This image is part of a large collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken by Hubble to mark its 18th launch anniversary.