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ESO 138- Final Color

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ESO 138 29 - Chile

ESO 138 29 – Chile

This is a “Collisional Ring” galaxy. It lies 218 million ly years away. The lower galaxy plunged right through the top one in a nearly “bull’s eye hit”.

A characteristic of these collisions, confirmed in numerical simulations, is that such an event shoves the nucleus of the penetrated galaxy off-center, and collects the splash material in a ring.

PlaneWave 12.5″ Astrograph with an ST11000 camera, Astrodon filters, and ASA gearless DDM-85 mount. F/8 LRGB (48/8min L, 8/6min each 2×2 RGB).