The system was discovered during a special survey of the Southern Milky Way undertaken with the UK Schmidt Telescope in Australia.

Scientists in University of Hong Kong (HKU) on Monday disclosed that they have discovered a new ring galaxy closest ever to the earth. The main galaxy shows a full ring of star-forming knots, 20,000 light-years in diameter surrounding a quiescent disc. The smaller assumed “bullet” galaxy also shows vigorous star formation.

A team of astronomers recently discovered a rare “bull’s eye” collision between two galaxies.

Smaller are extra widespread than giant ones, implying that collisional rings might be ten occasions as widespread as beforehand thought. This creates a spectacular ring of intense emission, and lights up the system like a firework. The ring is situated behind a dense star area and near a really vibrant foreground star, which is why it had not been famous earlier than. In addition, this appears to be a relatively empty region of space, making the chances of such a collision at this location very low. This uncommon jewel was uncovered throughout a search of the survey photographs for the remnants of dying stars in our Milky Approach. The authors were very surprised to also find this spectacular cosmic ring, sitting remotely behind the dust and gas of the Milky Way in the constellation of Ara (the Altar). Their peer-reviewed paper appeared today in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society publication and details the discovery and description of this galaxy “train wreck”.

Colour image of the collision. As per the team, the collision took place behind the Milky Way almost 30 million light years away.

Prof. Parker said in a statement that the system is not only visually stunning, but it is also close enough to be targeted for detailed study.

“It is not often that you get to name any objects in the sky”.

This particular instance has been called “Kathryn’s wheel”, because it resembles the firework, and after Kathryn Zijlstra, who is married to one of the lead astronomers on the team, Prof.

Because galaxies of this size are much more common than large ones, the researchers say, this discovery could indicate that such collisions are up to 10 times more frequent than previously assumed.