NGC 4438 (top) and NGC 4435 (bottom) taken by the FORS2 instrument of the Very Large Telescopein 2011. Image credit: ESO
NGC 4438 is about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. The nickname comes from the apparent similarity between the hearts of this pair of galaxies: two white ovals that resemble a pair of eyes glowing in the dark when viewed in a medium-sized telescope.
However, although the centers of these two galaxies look similar, their surroundings could not be more different. The galaxy in the lower right, known as NGC 4435, is compact and seems almost devoid of gas and dust. Instead, in the large galaxy at the upper left (NGC 4438) a dark dust path is visible just below its core, young stars can be seen to the left of its center, and the gas extends at least to the edges.
The content of NGC 4438 has been stripped by a violent process: a collision with another galaxy. This clash has distorted the shape of the spiral galaxy, something that can happen to the Milky Way when it collides with the neighboring galaxy of Andromeda in three or four billion years.
More details here: Eyes galaxies
NGC 4438 and NGC 4435 interacting galaxies. 32 inch Schulman telescope on Mt. Lemmon, AZ. Image source: [1]
The Virgo Cluster of galaxies (Burrell Schmidt telescope). Image source: [2]