NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory have made a groundbreaking discovery about a galaxy called LEDA 1313424, nicknamed the Bullseye. Researchers found nine visible ring-shaped ripples in its structure after analyzing data from these telescopes.
Led by Yale University’s Imad Pasha, the study team observed eight separate rings in the image captured by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and a ninth ring identified in data from the Keck Observatory. The discovery was serendipitous, with Pasha spotting the galaxy while reviewing a ground-based imaging survey.
The Bullseye galaxy is 567 million light years away from Earth and has been struck by a smaller blue dwarf galaxy, which caused galactic material to move both inward and outward, sparking multiple waves of star formation along the lines of the ripples. The impact led to the formation of nine distinct rings, with each ring forming at different times.
The researchers used mathematical models for head-on galaxy collisions to explain their findings. These models suggest that the first two rings formed quickly and spread out in wider circles, while additional rings formed as the blue dwarf plowed through the bigger galaxy’s core.
Notably, the Bullseye is a larger target than our Milky Way galaxy, measuring 250,000 light-years wide compared to the Milky Way’s 100,000 light-years. Astronomers can now use this discovery to better understand galactic collisions and rare events like this one.
Source: https://www.universetoday.com/170766/bullseye-hubble-spots-ripples-in-space-from-a-galaxy-collision