Did a cosmic collision create galaxies missing dark matter?

Astronomers measured distances to eight dwarf galaxies aligned in the NGC 1052 field, all clustering around 20 million light-years away. This rules out the possibility they are a foreground mirage. But measurements of the best-studied galaxy in the group (NGC 1052-DF2) conflict: older Hubble data suggest 21.7 Mpc, while the new James Webb measurement gives 17.6 Mpc. The alignment may indeed reflect a violent dwarf-dwarf collision, but the distance discrepancy demands urgent follow-up observations.