The Bullseye Galaxy: LEDA 1313424 in Pisces | Hubble Space Telescope

The Bullseye Galaxy: LEDA 1313424 in Pisces | Hubble Space Telescope

High-resolution imagery from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope has allowed researchers to hone in on more of the Bullseye galaxy’s rings—and helped confirm the galaxy that dove through its core.

LEDA 1313424, aptly nicknamed the Bullseye, is two and a half times the size of our Milky Way and has nine rings—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 identified the galaxy that dove through the Bullseye, creating these rings: the blue dwarf galaxy sitting 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.

The research team’s paper was published on February 4, 2025 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ad9f5c

Credits: NASA, ESA, Imad Pasha (Yale), Pieter van Dokkum (Yale)
Release Date: Feb. 4, 2025

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