Yale astronomers have announced the discovery of a galaxy with nine concentric rings—the most rings ever seen in a single galaxy. At more than twice the diameter of our Milky Way, it stretches approximately 250,

The Bullseye is now confirmed to have nine rings, eight of which are visible to Hubble. Researchers confirmed the existence of the ninth ring by studying data from the W. M. Keck Observatory. That means the Bullseye has six more rings than any other known galaxy.

The Bullseye galaxy earned its nickname thanks to its wild number of rings. A smaller galaxy shot through its heart 50 million years ago to help create a cosmic wonder.

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured this striking image of an unusual galaxy with a bullseye structure, as nine rings surround its central point. Technically known as LEDA 1313424, the galaxy has more rings than any other known galaxy, and studying it is helping astronomers to learn how galaxies like this are created.

Imad Pasha, the lead researcher and a doctoral student at Yale University called it a "serendipitous discovery" because it has the most number of rings than any spiral galaxy found to date. While Hubble discovered eight rings of the galaxy, the ninth one was confirmed through observations using Hawaii-based Keck observatory.

In a study published today by The Astrophysical Journal Letters, a research team led by Yale University’s Imad Pasha identifies nine visible ring-shaped ripples in the structure of the galaxy, formally known as LEDA 1313424. The galaxy is 567 million light years from Earth in the constellation Pisces.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a cosmic bullseye. The gargantuan galaxy LEDA 1313424 is rippling with nine star-filled rings after an "arrow"—a far smaller blue dwarf galaxy—shot through its heart.