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Astronomy is awesome

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**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

07 February 2025

**LEDA 1313424: The Bullseye Galaxy**



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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.

#APOD #Cosmology #SpaceExploration #Astroeducation #SpaceObservatory

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250207.html