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High-resolution imagery from the NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has allowed researchers to hone in on more of the Bullseye galaxy\u2019s rings \u2014 and helped confirm which galaxy dove through its core.<\/p>\n
LEDA 1313424, aptly nicknamed the Bullseye, is two and a half times the size of our Milky Way and has nine rings \u2014 six more than any other known galaxy. Hubble has confirmed eight rings, and data from the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii confirmed a ninth. Hubble and Keck also confirmed which galaxy dove through the Bullseye, creating these rings: the blue dwarf galaxy that sits to its immediate center-left. This relatively tiny interloper traveled like a dart through the core of the Bullseye about 50 million years ago, leaving rings in its wake like ripples in a pond. A thin trail of gas now links the pair, though they are currently separated by 130,000 light-years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0team\u2019s paper\u00a0was published on 4 February 2025 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n