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APOD: 2024 February 18 Á Hoags Object: A Nearly Perfect Ring Galaxy
Explanation:
Is this one galaxy or two?
This question came to light in 1950 when astronomer
Arthur Hoag
chanced upon this unusual extragalactic object.
On the outside is a
ring dominated by bright blue stars,
while near the center lies a ball of much redder stars
that are likely much older.
Between the two is a
gap that appears almost completely dark.
How Hoag's Object formed, including
its nearly
perfectly round ring
of stars and gas, remains unknown.
Genesis hypotheses include a
galaxy collision
billions of years ago and the gravitational effect of a
central bar that has
since vanished.
The featured
photo was taken by the
Hubble Space Telescope
and reprocessed using an
artificially intelligent de-noising algorithm.
Observations in
radio waves
indicate that
Hoag's Object has not
accreted a smaller galaxy in the past billion years.
Hoag's Object spans about 100,000
light years and lies about 600 million light years away toward the constellation of the Snake
(Serpens).
Many galaxies far in the distance are visible toward the right, while
coincidentally, visible in the gap at about seven o'clock,
is another but more distant ring galaxy.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: ring galaxy
Publications with words: ring galaxy
See also: