Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
A stunning cosmic collision was captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, revealing LEDA 1313424, a galaxy unlike any other, marked by nine rippling star-filled rings—more than any galaxy ever observed.
Credit: NASA
A tiny blue dwarf galaxy shot through the Bullseye’s core like an arrow, triggering waves of gas and stars that expanded outward, forming the rare concentric rings seen today.
Credit: NASA
NASA’s Hubble Telescope captured eight visible rings with unmatched clarity, while additional data from Hawaii’s Keck Observatory confirmed a ninth, extending the galaxy’s record-breaking structure.
“This was a serendipitous discovery,” said Imad Pasha, a Yale doctoral researcher. He stumbled upon the galaxy during a ground-based survey and was immediately captivated by its peculiar rings.
Credit: NASA
Galaxies frequently collide, but it is exceedingly rare for one to plunge directly through another’s center, as this blue dwarf did, leaving behind the Bullseye’s distinctive rippling aftermath.
At 250,000 light-years across, the Bullseye is two-and-a-half times the size of the Milky Way, making it one of the largest known galaxies with such a complex ring structure.
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A long-standing astrophysical model predicted how galactic rings should expand post-collision. The Bullseye’s rings matched these predictions almost perfectly, confirming the accuracy of these simulations.
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Astronomers suspect a tenth ring may have once existed but has since faded beyond detection. Over time, more rings may dissolve as the galaxy continues its slow transformation.
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NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope may soon uncover more galaxies like the Bullseye, helping astronomers determine whether such cosmic events are truly rare or more common than believed.