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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                 2024 February 18   
        A nearly perfect circular ring of blue stars is seen against a dark   
      field of small background galaxies. In the center of the ring is a ball   
           of yellow stars. Please see the explanation for more detailed   
                                   information.   
      
                    Hoag's Object: A Nearly Perfect Ring Galaxy   
            Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: Benoit Blanco   
      
      Explanation: Is this one galaxy or two? This question came to light in   
      1950 when astronomer Arthur Hoag chanced upon this unusual   
      extragalactic object. On the outside is a ring dominated by bright blue   
      stars, while near the center lies a ball of much redder stars that are   
      likely much older. Between the two is a gap that appears almost   
      completely dark. How Hoag's Object formed, including its nearly   
      perfectly round ring of stars and gas, remains unknown. Genesis   
      hypotheses include a galaxy collision billions of years ago and the   
      gravitational effect of a central bar that has since vanished. The   
      featured photo was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and reprocessed   
      using an artificially intelligent de-noising algorithm. Observations in   
      radio waves indicate that Hoag's Object has not accreted a smaller   
      galaxy in the past billion years. Hoag's Object spans about 100,000   
      light years and lies about 600 million light years away toward the   
      constellation of the Snake (Serpens). Many galaxies far in the distance   
      are visible toward the right, while coincidentally, visible in the gap   
      at about seven o'clock, is another but more distant ring galaxy.   
      
                         Tomorrow's picture: sideways sun   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn; Specific rights apply.   
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                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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