Hubble Sees a Galaxy Hit a Bull's-Eye

Bright pink nebulae almost completely encircle a spiral galaxy in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 922. The ring structure and the galaxy's distorted spiral shape result from a smaller galaxy scoring a cosmic bull's-eye, hitting the center of NGC 922 some 330 million years ago. Hubble's image of NGC 922 consists of a series of exposures taken in visible light with the Wide Field Camera 3, and in visible and near-infrared light with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.

For images and more information about NGC 922, visit: http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1218/

http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2012-45