Galaxy LEDA 1313424 is a peach . It is 2.5 times the size of the Milky Way and has something no other galaxy has : A series of homocentric rings , nine to be precise . This is more than other known galaxy , which usually have just two or three band .
The galax has been nicknamed the " Bullseye " galaxy due to its concentric rings – and that is in reality sort of how they came about . A much smaller nanus galaxy passed through the centerfield of the massive galaxy about 50 million age ago , and it is still visible to the center - left of Bullseye .
“ This was a serendipitous uncovering , ” the young study ’s pencil lead writer Imad Pasha , from Yale University , said in astatement . “ 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 give up to investigate it . ”
The Milky Way versus Bullseye.Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
The team follow up with theHubble Telescope , which was able to severalise eight ring in the galaxy . One further closed chain was hear thanks to the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaiʻi . The data paints a clear picture : we are seeing the burden of a galactic collision – a trail of gas pedal dilute 130,000 light - years is visible between the dwarf galaxy and Bullseye .
“ We ’re catch the Bullseye at a very exceptional moment in time , ” added Pieter G. van Dokkum , a Centennial State - source of the raw study and a professor at Yale . “ There ’s a very minute window after the impact when a Galax urceolata like this would have so many rings . ”
While galaxy mergers are a fairly unwashed phenomenon , one beetleweed diving through another is not . The force is like a stone being unload in a pool , creating waves . Theoretical example had been developed for such a scenario , and they agreed beautifully with the observations .
“ That possibility was developed for the 24-hour interval that someone date so many rings , ” van Dokkum said . “ It is immensely gratify to confirm this long - endure prediction with the Bullseye galaxy . ”
“ This would have been impossible without Hubble , ” Pasha said .
A 10thring might have exist , but the squad thinks it might have faded by now . The squad hopes that more galaxy like these will be discovered .
“ Once NASA’sNancy Grace Roman Space Telescopebegins science operations , interesting objects will pop out much more easily , ” van Dokkum explain . “ We will learn how rarified these prominent events really are . ”
The newspaper is publish inThe Astrophysical Journal Letters .
