LEDA 1313424: The Bullseye Galaxy
Credit & Copyright: NASA,
ESA,
Imad Pasha (Yale), Pieter van Dokkum (Yale)
Explanation:
The giant galaxy
cataloged as LEDA 1313424 is about two and a half times
the size of our own Milky Way.
Its remarkable appearance in this
recently
released Hubble
Space Telescope image strongly suggests its
nickname "The Bullseye Galaxy".
Known as a collisional ring galaxy it has
nine
rings
confirmed by telescopic observations,
rippling
from its center like waves from a pebble dropped into a pond.
Of course, the pebble dropped into the Bullseye galaxy was a galaxy
itself.
Telescopic observations identify the blue dwarf galaxy at center-left
as the likely collider, passing through the giant galaxy's
center and forming concentric rings in the wake of their
gravitational interaction.
The Bullseye Galaxy lies some 567 million light-years away toward the
constellation Pisces.
At
that distance,
this stunning Hubble image would span about 530,000
light-years.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
