* Astronomy

What has appeared as a mild-mannered elliptical galaxy in previous studies is revealing its wild side in new images taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble photos show shells of stars around a bright quasar, known as MC2 1635+119, which dominates the centre of the galaxy. The shells' presence indicates a titanic clash with another galaxy in the relatively recent past. The collision also is funnelling gas into the galaxy's centre and is feeding a supermassive black hole. The accretion onto the black hole is the source of the quasar's energy. This observation supports the idea that at least some quasars are born from interactions between galaxies.

Read more  

Position (J2000):      R.A. 16h 37m 46s.51 Dec. +11° 49' 49".34