No, it’s not an interstellar target. This remarkable image, captured by Japan Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, actually shows something much more special: an extremely rare three-ring galaxy located about 800 million light-years from Earth, officials at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan wrote in a press release. statement. How it formed remains a cosmic mystery.

Below standard Hubble sequence Depending on the classification method, galaxies generally fall into one of four categories: elliptical, lenticular, spiral, and irregular. Elliptical galaxies appear quite smooth and egg-shaped through a telescope, with an even distribution of stars. Lenticular galaxies look a bit like flattened ellipses with a bulge in the center – imagine you’re looking at a fried egg from the side. Spiral galaxies, like ours Milky Wayhave a similar central bulge, but instead of an outer disk, they have swirling stellar “arms.” And irregular galaxies, as their name suggests, do not have a predictable, organized shape.