Astrophysical Anomalies from Hubble’s Archive - NASA Science

Astrophysical Anomalies from Hubble’s Archive

Six Hubble images of distorted galaxies are organized in a two-row mosaic. From left to right, the top row of galaxies appears as follows: The left panel has a galaxy that resembles the number nine tilted on its side to the left and has red-orange regions scattered with blue knots. The center square shows an edge-on spiral galaxy appearing like a white thin bar extending from 8 o’clock to 2 o’clock. It has a bright, compact core and a small background spiral galaxy just below the core. The right panel shows two merging galaxies forming a convoluted shape that extends from 8 o’clock to 2 o’clock. The bottom row of galaxies appears as follows: Left square contains a face-on spiral with faint, broad arcs of material to its left and right. The center panel has a hazy white, face-on spiral with a lumpy vertical line to its right that appears to curve around its core. The right panel shows an orange elliptical galaxy with a lumpy blueish galaxy curving around it to the right.

Six previously undiscovered, weird and fascinating astrophysical objects are displayed in this new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. They include three lenses with arcs distorted by gravity, one galactic merger, one ring galaxy, and one galaxy that defied classification.