There are many galaxies in the universe. Astronomers see many of them yearly, and still new ones come up. Now a new, extremely rare galaxy gets its first look.
The rare galaxy is around 359 million light years from the Earth. Its name is PGC 1000714 and belongs to a rare type of galaxy called a Hoag-type galaxy. Such galaxies have rarely been observed, making up for only 0.1 percent of all galaxies seen, as said by Burcin Mutlu-Pakdil, who is lead author of the study and a graduate student from the Minnesota Institute of Astrophysics, University of Minnesota Twin Cities and University of Minnesota Duluth.
Hoag-type galaxies are those that have round cores with a circular ring surrounding it. Most galaxies would either be a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way. Unusually shaped galaxies though can give astronomers an idea of how the universe has been formed with a variety of different galaxies.
The galaxy has an outer ring composed of mainly young stars. The core is made up mostly of older, red stars. However, astronomers have been intrigued since the galaxy has a second inner ring that is around its core. Patrick Treuthardt, co-author of the study and an astrophysicist from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences said that the second ring is an older, defused inner ring.
Mutlu-Pakdil has observed that the differences between the two rings might indicate two different formation periods, according to Phys Org. He has said that it is still not clear how the two rings have been formed though. The researchers speculate that the outer ring might have been formed by taking material from a dwarf galaxy.
The galaxy rings are regions where stars are formed out of colliding gas, as Science Daily reports. Galaxies are often formed either through external means or else through internal ones. The researchers are still studying how the rare galaxy has been formed.
Galaxies are numerous in the universe. There are many galaxies that astronomers have yet to discover. A new, extremely rare galaxy gets its first look from astronomers. The first UFO sighting this 2017 might hold the answers to its mysteries.
