May 2020
I blog a lot about the Pacific Plate breaking up - causing the acceleration of earthquake activity including the North American Plate, affecting other tectonic plates (the Indian Ocean Plate breaking in two), the largest shield volcano coming up in Hawaii, the occasional tsunami, and more in the 'Pacific Ring of Fire' .
Now we find a 'Cosmic Ring of Fire' - a galaxy made up of a flat ring of stars, with a hole in the middle where astronomers believe another blob of stars punched through. Galaxies like this, known as "collisional ring galaxies," turn up infrequently in the modern universe. But this is the first time astronomers have seen one so old and far away; at 11 billion light-years from our planet, its ancient light is only just reaching Earth.
Ancient 'ring of fire' galaxy found glaring at Earth across space and time Space.com - May 27, 2020
This galaxy, R5519, is made up of a flat ring of stars, with a hole in the middle where astronomers believe another blob of stars punched through. Galaxies like this, known as "collisional ring galaxies," turn up infrequently in the modern universe. But this is the first time astronomers have seen one so old and far away; at 11 billion light-years from our planet, its ancient light is only just reaching Earth.
Astronomers capture image of a super-rare type of galaxy - described as a "cosmic ring of fire" - as it existed 11 billion years ago PhysOrg - May 25, 2020
The galaxy, which has roughly the mass of the Milky Way, is circular with a hole in the middle, rather like a titanic doughnut. Its discovery
Astronomers Just Found an Extremely Rare 'Ring of Fire' Galaxy in The Early Universe Science Alert - May 25, 2020
In the early days of the Universe, 10.8 billion years ago, astronomers have just found a galaxy wearing the battlescars of a cosmic brawl. It's not a blob or disc of stars, like most galaxies, but a giant doughnut - with a huge hole punched right through its centre.