Feb 4, 2025 · Hubble and Keck’s follow-up observations also helped the researchers prove which galaxy plunged through the center of the Bullseye — a blue dwarf galaxy to its 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.

6 days ago · The blue dwarf galaxy’s straight trajectory through the Bullseye later caused material to move both inward and outward in waves, setting off new regions of star formation. How big is the Bullseye? Our Milky Way galaxy is about 100,000 light-years in diameter, and the Bullseye is almost two-and-a-half times larger, at 250,000 light-years across.

Feb 4, 2025 · A Yale-led team of astronomers has discovered a cosmic rarity: a super-sized galaxy with nine concentric rings. Officially known as LEDA 1313424, the “Bullseye” galaxy got its rings about 50 million years ago after a much smaller galaxy collided with its midsection — like a cosmic dart landing dead center in a game of Knockout at the ...

2 days ago · About 50 million years ago, a small blue dwarf galaxy plunged through the massive Bullseye galaxy, creating a striking ripple effect. But in space, these “waves” behave differently. Instead of water, the impact pushed gas, dust, and stars both inward and outward, forming at least nine glowing rings in the larger galaxy.

5 days ago · After a blue dwarf galaxy shot through it like an arrow, the large Bullseye now has nine rings—six more than any other galaxy known to scientists Margherita Bassi Daily Correspondent LEDA ...

5 days ago · A diagram of the Bullseye Galaxy's nine concentric rings (Image credit: NASA, ESA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)). The blue dwarf galaxy that ran through LEDA 1313424 is still connected to the collision ...

5 days ago · In the Bullseye galaxy, the first two rings likely formed rapidly and expanded outward. Later rings appeared in sequence, slightly offset by the continued movement of gas and dust. The passage of the blue dwarf galaxy affected the earliest rings the most, triggering a chain reaction that lasted millions of years.

5 days ago · The Bullseye Galaxy. The blue dwarf galaxy that punched through its center is on the left. (NASA, ESA, Imad Pasha/Yale, Pieter van Dokkum/Yale) "We're catching the Bullseye at a very special moment in time," says astronomer Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University. "There's a very narrow window after the impact when a galaxy like this would have so ...