Hubble's view of Hoag's Object Click on image for full size (410K JPG) NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

The Hubble Space Telescope has recently taken some exciting pictures of Hoag’s Object, a somewhat mysterious galaxy that is 600 million light years from Earth.

The galaxy was named after Art Hoag, the astronomer who found it in 1950. Located in the constellation Serpens, Hoag’s Object is about the size of our galaxy but has an unusual shape with a blue ring of young massive stars and a yellow center of older cooler stars. It is so unusual that Art Hoag did not know it was a galaxy when he first found it. He first thought that it was a nebula, but later suggested that it was, in fact, a galaxy.

Astronomers know several different ways that ring shaped galaxies can form, but the unusual shape of Hoag’s Object appears to have formed in a unique way. It is unlike other ring shaped galaxies, which often form by collision with another galaxy, because Hoag’s Object shows no signs of collision. Astronomers suspect that the outer ring of stars was formed two to three billion years ago when a galaxy passing nearby left young stars behind.

Hubble's view of Hoag's Object Click on image for full size (410K JPG) NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

The Hubble Space Telescope has recently taken some exciting pictures of Hoag’s Object, a mysterious galaxy 600 million light years from Earth.

The galaxy was named after Art Hoag, the astronomer who found it in 1950. Located in the constellation Serpens, Hoag’s Object is about the size of our galaxy but it has an unusual shape with a blue ring of young stars and a yellow center of older stars. It is so unusual, in fact, that Art Hoag did not know it was a galaxy when he first found it.

Hoag’s Object is unlike other ring shaped galaxies, which often form by collision with another galaxy, because it shows no signs of collision. Astronomers suspect that the outer ring of stars was formed two to three billion years ago when a galaxy passing nearby left young stars behind.

Hubble's view of Hoag's Object Click on image for full size (410K JPG) NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

The Hubble Space Telescope has recently taken some exciting pictures of Hoag’s Object, a mysterious galaxy far from Earth.

The galaxy has a strange shape! The blue ring is full of young stars. The bright yellow spot in the center is full of older stars.

Some galaxies with ring shapes form when two galaxies smash together, but Hoag’s Object shows no signs of a crash. Astronomers think that the outer ring of stars was formed two to three billion years ago when a galaxy passing nearby left young stars behind.