this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
465 points (99.4% liked)

Space

8790 readers
22 users here now

Share & discuss informative content on: Astrophysics, Cosmology, Space Exploration, Planetary Science and Astrobiology.


Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive.
  2. No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  3. Engage in constructive discussions.
  4. Share relevant content.
  5. Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
  6. Use appropriate language and tone.
  7. Report violations.
  8. Foster a continuous learning environment.

Picture of the Day

The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula


Related Communities

πŸ”­ Science

πŸš€ Engineering

🌌 Art and Photography


Other Cool Links

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

James Web telescope finds giant question mark galaxy in deep space.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] eagleeyedtiger 35 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I enjoy the jokes, but has anyone given an explanation of what it likely is?

Seems like merging galaxies. It’s too far away to be a single star being eaten by a companion. (It’d have the six-sided star mirror artifact if it were closer.) And galaxies temporarily form weird shapes as they merge

[–] Soylentcolaispeople@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Just speculation but it would be totally plausible for a helix shaped galaxy or star (possibly being pulled into a black hole) oriented from an odd angle, with either a gap or a cloud of some sort blocking one part of it and it just happens to look like a common glyph.

But I'm no starologist

[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Could also be two or more systems colliding with each other. Similar to this

[–] eagleeyedtiger 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I wanted to guess gravitational lensing, but couldn't see how that would make a question mark.. it's still pretty cool!