Bullseye! Astronomers discover a giant galaxy with nine rings

This galaxy has the most rings we've ever seen.

by Jordan Strickler
February 6, 2025
Reading Time: 5 mins read
Edited and reviewed by Mihai Andrei

Yale astronomers have announced the discovery of a galaxy with nine concentric rings—the most rings ever seen in a single galaxy. At more than twice the diameter of our Milky Way, it stretches approximately 250,000 light-years across. Dubbed the “Bullseye,” this record-breaking system is officially named LEDA 1313424 and it could hold some clues regarding dark matter.

Blame a collision for the rings
The research team said these rings likely formed when a smaller galaxy shot through the heart of the Bullseye galaxy roughly 50 million years ago.

“The collision triggered the creation of nine beautiful, symmetrical rings, which are now expanding outwards, carrying gas away from the center,” said lead author Imad Pasha, a Yale doctoral student in astronomy and the principal investigator of the new study, appearing in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

It’s not that uncommon for galaxies to have rings, but most have just one or two. In some well-known cases, such as the Cartwheel Galaxy, a head-on collision also produced multiple concentric features—but nowhere near the amount seen in Bullseye.

Astronomers say catching all nine rings so clearly at once is exceptionally rare, especially because such rings are not long-lived on the cosmic scale. Collisional rings form and fade in just a few hundred million years, a fleeting instant in the life of a galaxy.

More:
https://www.zmescience.com/space/bullseye-astronomers-discover-a-giant-galaxy-with-nine-rings/