This giant galaxy, known as LEDA 1313424, is about two and a half times more massive than the Milky Way. This recently released image, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, reveals its striking structure and justifies the name “Bullseye Galaxy”. This collision-induced ringed galaxy has been identified as having nine rings, which spread out like ripples when a stone is thrown into water. Of course, the “stone” that hit this gigantic galaxy was actually another galaxy. Observations show that the blue dwarf galaxy in the left center most likely caused the collision. The smaller galaxy passed through the center of the larger galaxy and formed concentric rings as a result of gravitational interactions. The Target Board Galaxy is located in the constellation Pisces and is about 567 million light-years from Earth. At this distance, the impressive frame captured by Hubble covers an area of about 530,000 light-years.

February 7, 2025 Astronomy Photo of the Day (NASA APOD)

Image Source: NASA, ESA, Imad Pasha (Yale), Pieter van Dokkum (Yale)