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No , that ’s not an interstellar bull’s - eye . This remarkable epitome , capture by Japan’sSubaru Telescopeon Mauna Kea in Hawaii , in reality shows something much more special : an extremely rare treble - ring coltsfoot located about 800 million light - years from Earth , officials from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan wrote in astatement . How it formed remains a cosmic mystery story .
Under the standardHubble sequencemethod of classification , galaxy typically fall into one of four categories : elliptic , lenticular , spiral and temporary . Elliptical galaxies seem fairly smooth and testicle - form through a scope , with an even dispersion of stars . Lenticular galaxieslook a bit like flattened ellipsis with a bump in the center — conceive of viewing a fried egg from the side . helical galaxy , such as ourMilky means , have a similar central bulge , but instead of an outer magnetic disc , they have whirl stellar " arm . " And irregular galaxies , as their name suggests , miss a predictable , organized configuration .
But ring extragalactic nebula do n’t fit into these neat class . This has lead some investigator and citizen scientist to argue that the Hubble sequence — the most widely used method of categorizing galaxies — needs a serious update .
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While Hubble episode galaxy be given to pursue one of two predictable evolutionary paths , nobody have a go at it for certain how ring galaxies form . One of the lead hypotheses is that they result fromcollisions between galaxies . When another wandflower hits the sum of a coiling galax , it creates ripples of natural gas and dust that radiate like a shock wave , producing a ring , the theory suggests .
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Another hypothesis is that galactic rings result fromnatural resonance phenomenon . As the interstellar gas within a galaxy moves , it tends to congregate in certain regions because of gravitative effects . Under certain circumstances , this could acquire a typical ring physique around the galaxy — or even more than one .
Galaxy Cruise , the citizen scientific discipline project in boot of classifying Subaru trope , currently regard pack galaxies as the result of collisions . Whether this triple - ring galaxy was form through multiple collisions , a single collision or some other means is still unknown . But one thing is sure : Finding oddballs like this helps us down our overall intellect of the existence and galactic organization .
