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A large galaxy is at center, and a significantly smaller galaxy is to its left. The large galaxy, nicknamed the Bullseye, is mostly face-on, but the top appears slightly tilted away. It has several rings. Its circular core is bright white at the very center, but light yellow overall. Going outward, there are gaps between the rings. The core is surrounded by two slightly lighter yellow rings, which also appear to be overlapping. The next ring is slightly more transparent and yellow. The two or three rings that are farther out are bluer, sometimes with blue clumps. The widest ring is also blue, but also the most transparent. At 9 o’clock is a small dwarf galaxy. It is about the same size as the yellow core of the Bullseye. The dwarf galaxy is blue, with many dots. It looks like the edge of the Bullseye might touch the dwarf galaxy. Both galaxies are set on the black background of space, which is dotted with a range of galaxies in different shapes, colors, and sizes, along with one foreground star at left.

Straight Shot: Hubble Investigates Galaxy with Nine Rings

The gargantuan galaxy LEDA 1313424 is rippling with nine star-filled rings after an “arrow” — a far smaller blue dwarf galaxy — shot through its heart. Astronomers using Hubble identified eight visible rings, more than previously detected by any telescope in any galaxy, and confirmed a ninth using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Previous observations of other galaxies show a maximum of two or three rings. Hubble's and Keck’s follow-up observations also helped the researchers prove which galaxy plunged through the center of the Bullseye — a blue dwarf galaxy to its center-left. This relatively tiny interloper traveled like a dart through the core of the Bullseye about 50 million years ago, leaving rings in its wake like ripples in a pond. A thin trail of gas now links the pair, though they are currently separated by 130,000 light-years.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Imad Pasha (Yale), Pieter van Dokkum (Yale)
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Image CreditNASA, ESA, Imad Pasha (Yale), Pieter van Dokkum (Yale)
Size2000x1877px