Hubble Hits A Cosmic Bullseye With Stunning Shot Of A Gargantuan 9-Ringed Galaxy

Almost by accident, a researcher stumbled upon a unique galactic event 50 million years in the making. Apparently NASA's Hubble Space Telescope had captured a ringed galaxy (LEDA 1313424) that not only heavily resembles a bullseye, but with nine (perhaps more) rings now holds the record for the most rings observed in a galaxy. In comparison, previous observed galaxies have only managed two to three rings.

The ever-faithful Hubble HST has captured another milestone in space. A galaxy formally known as LEDA 1313424 was observed with nine visible ring ripples. The occurrence was first noticed by Imad Pasha, lead researcher and doctoral student at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Pasha recalls of the discovery, "I was looking at a ground-based imaging survey and when I saw a galaxy with several clear rings, I was immediately drawn to it. I had to stop to investigate it."

Subsequent observations by Hubble and Keck helped researchers pinpoint which galaxy served as the "arrow" that pierced through the "bullseye" of LEDA 1313424 (now affectionately and unsurprisingly nicknamed the "Bullseye Galaxy"). The blue dwarf at the 9-o'clock position in the photo above pierced Bullseye, causing at least nine ripple-like rings to develop. The impact event happened about 50 million years ago and yet, evidence linking the two galaxies is a thin gas trail spanning 130,000 light years.

Spotting a galaxy with nine impact rings is almost beyond rare; not just for the number of rings (the most rings that have been observed prior to this has been three), but it's not very often we get to observe a galaxy plunge through the core of another. The Bullseye Galaxy is some two and a half times larger than the Milky Way (at 250,000 light years across versus 100,000 light years), so one could chalk it up to a bigger target for the blue dwarf to hit, but the odds are one in a million.

As the blue dwarf went straight through Bullseye, it caused material to move out in waves, creating new regions of star formations. Researchers believe that there might've been a tenth ring that has since visibly faded out and now lies about three times farther out than the widest ring in the captured image.