                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2025 February 7

                      LEDA 1313424: The Bullseye Galaxy
    Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Imad Pasha (Yale), Pieter van Dokkum (Yale)

   Explanation: The giant galaxy cataloged as LEDA 1313424 is about two
   and a half times the size of our own Milky Way. Its remarkable
   appearance in this recently released Hubble Space Telescope image
   strongly suggests its nickname "The Bullseye Galaxy". Known as a
   collisional ring galaxy it has nine rings confirmed by telescopic
   observations, rippling from its center like waves from a pebble dropped
   into a pond. Of course, the pebble dropped into the Bullseye galaxy was
   a galaxy itself. Telescopic observations identify the blue dwarf galaxy
   at center-left as the likely collider, passing through the giant
   galaxy's center and forming concentric rings in the wake of their
   gravitational interaction. The Bullseye Galaxy lies some 567 million
   light-years away toward the constellation Pisces. At that distance,
   this stunning Hubble image would span about 530,000 light-years.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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