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Monday, September 12, 2011

Saturn-lookalike galaxy has a murky past

Saturn-lookalike galaxy has a murky past - space - 09 September 2011 - New Scientist: "Centuries before telescopes revealed galaxies to us, philosopher Immanuel Kant suggested that "island universes" – agglomerations of stars and gas – existed.

Still hazy after all these years (Image: NASA/Hubble Heritage Team/Ray Lucas/(STScI/AURA))

It's a fitting description for the peculiar galaxy pictured right. Consisting of a bright yellow spherical core surrounded by a symmetrical luminous ring of blue-tinged stars, Hoag's object looks like it's doing an impression of the planet Saturn. This is unlike any other galaxy – and so perplexing to astronomers that it might as well exist in another universe."

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