When Galaxies Collide: Mayall's Object

Looking like one galaxy chomping another to bits, Mayall’s Object is a galactic collision located about 500 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

The strange ring-and-tail shape likely happened when the two parent galaxies first collided, drawing matter into the object’s center.

A shockwave eventually propagated outward, creating the enormous ring.

Image: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University), K. Noll (STScI), and J. Westphal (Caltech)