Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Hoag's Object is a mysterious ring galaxy 600 million light years away in the constellation Serpens. The outer ring is composed largely of hot blue stars, while the core is older red and yellow stars. The space in between is almost completely dark. It is thought that this galaxy formed from the collision of two galaxies billions of years ago. Visible near the top of the gap is another ring galaxy, likely much further away.