Hubble spots a cosmic bullseye

Sometimes even scientists get lucky. Yale University astronomer Imad Pasha was scanning some ground-based images when he stumbled across a galaxy boasting several rings. Because the object’s name, LEDA 1313424, doesn’t roll off the tongue, his team nicknamed it the Bullseye. This Hubble image reveals why it’s an apt moniker: The galaxy boasts nine rings, six more than any other known. The rings formed like ripples in a pond after a blue dwarf galaxy ripped through LEDA 1313424’s heart some 50 million years ago. (The interloper appears just left of center.) The collision triggered the birth of hot blue stars in the outer two rings, while the redder inner rings pile up near the center. The galaxy spans 250,000 light-years, 2.5 times the Milky Way’s size, and lies 570 million light-years away in the constellation Pisces.