The Bullseye Galaxy, classified as LEDA 1313424, is located 45 million light-years from Earth, and this Hubble observation shows us its nine rings in all their glory. For comparison purposes, our own Milky Way galaxy spans about 100,000 light-years in diameter, while the Bullseye is almost two-and-a-half times larger, at 250,000 light-years across.
Astronomers used Hubble’s crisp vision to precisely pinpoint the location of most of its rings, since many are piled up at the center. Keck in Hawaii confirmed one more ring. However, the team suspects a 10th ring also existed, but has faded over time and is no longer detectable. They estimate it might be located three times farther out than the widest ring in Hubble’s image.
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This was a serendipitous discovery. I was looking at a ground-based imaging survey and when I saw a galaxy with several clear rings, I was immediately drawn to it. I had to stop to investigate it,” said Imad Pasha, the lead researcher and a doctoral student at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
