Shocking discovery from Hubble: Giant space target with 9 swirls

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has just captured a strange image of the universe, a giant galaxy surrounded by 9 spirals, looking like a giant "target".

This galaxy, called LEDA 1313424, is located billions of light years away from us. What makes it special is that it has up to 9 spirals filled with stars, a phenomenon never seen before.

Image of the cosmic "target" discovered by the Hubble telescope.

Scientists believe the "target" was formed by a collision between LEDA 1313424 and a smaller blue dwarf galaxy. The collision created ripples in space, similar to when a stone is thrown into water.

According to Professor Pieter G. van Dokkum, this is an extremely rare event. "We are witnessing this 'target' at a very special time. There is a very short time after the collision for a galaxy to have so many rings," he said.

The Hubble Space Telescope played a key role in the discovery of this masterpiece. Thanks to Hubble's extremely high resolution, scientists were able to clearly observe the vortices, especially those located at the center of the galaxy.

This discovery is not only visually impressive, but also opens up new research directions on galaxy collisions and their influence on the evolution of galaxies.

Scientists hope that with more powerful telescopes in the future, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, they will be able to find more similar "targets" and better understand this vast universe.

Micah Soto

Update 18 February 2025