Hubble's view of Hoag's Object
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NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA

New Pictures of Hoag’s Object!
News story originally written on September 12, 2002

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.


Last modified September 12, 2002 by Lisa Gardiner.

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