Introduction
Our universe is filled with hidden wonders. We, as enthusiastic explorers are studying the various happenings in the universe and are mining out hidden secrets every day. From the 15th century to the present day, we have developed new technologies and are racing into space exploration. Now we have advanced telescopes that can detect the distant galaxies, neutron stars, and even black holes. With the help of our advanced technology, we have reached a new milestone by discovering one of the oldest and rarest known galaxies to mankind. It is discovered by gathering the spectroscopy data provided by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is the rarest discovered galaxy named “cosmic ring of fire”.
Galaxy R5519
The galaxy discovered is named R5519 and is also called “cosmic ring of fire”. It is located at a distance of 11 billion light-years from the solar system. One light-year is the distance traveled by light in one year through space. So it is one of the rarest ring galaxies found by mankind. Its mass is roughly the same compared to our milky way. It has an inner ring of the diameter that is 2 billion times the astronomical unit and 3 million times the diameter of the first-ever photographed blackhole in galaxy Messier 87. All the newly formed stars are born in its ring and it produces stars at a rate of 50 times when compared with our host galaxy. As most of the stars are born in its ring, it is called a “ring of fire”. It is a peculiar galaxy known to mankind and also interesting at the same time.
R5519- A Strange Type of Ring Galaxy
In our observable universe, there are billions of galaxies and most common ones are the spiral galaxies or ring galaxies. These galaxies are of two types. The most common one is the type of ring galaxy is formed by internal processes. The gravitational collapse at the center of this galaxy creates a hole at the center and the cosmic dust and gases form a thin disk around this hole where stars are formed. The second type of ring galaxy is the rare type of thing known as collisional galaxies. These type of galaxies forms when two galaxies collide with each other creating a single collisional ring galaxy. Before the collision, the two galaxies are irregular in shape and the victim galaxy should have a thin disk of cosmic gases and dust and when collided forms the ring galaxy. Our newly found galaxy R5519 is one of these types of ring galaxy. When we are looking at the R5519, we are looking back 11 billion years into the time; just 3 billion years after the formation of the universe according to Big Bang hypothesis. Its thin disc is just in the budding phase and not formed properly. FYI the thin disc of our milky way formed 9 billion years ago. So, we are looking into the time when the thin disc of our galaxy is not formed yet.
Study of R5519
By observing the galaxy in detail and studying its formation of thin disc and stars in the rings, we can get a detailed understanding of the formation of spiral galaxies, the time taken for the formation of ring galaxies, the rare type of ring galaxies, and so on. Thin discs are the foundational elements for the formation of the spiral galaxies. Through this study, we can also get to know about the formation of a thin disc of our milky way and also the early formation of our host galaxy.
Conclusion
The discovery of this strange galaxy in the far observable universe allows us to travel back in time and observe the formation of ring galaxies in the universe and has opened the gates to study the dissecting galactic disks of the spiral galaxy.
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