NASA announced Tuesday that it has discovered a galaxy far, far away that’s shaped like an imperial TIE fighter from Star Wars.
The active galaxy — designated TXS 0128+554 — is located 500 million light-years from us in the Cassiopeia constellation.
“The first time I saw the results, I immediately thought it looked like Darth Vader’s TIE fighter spacecraft from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope,” said Purdue University scientist Matthew Lister, one of the authors of a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal announcing the findings.
Lister added, “That was a fun surprise, but its appearance at different radio frequencies also helped us learn more about how active galaxies can change dramatically on decade time scales.”
The scientific research team, using multiple telescopes and observatories, documented the galaxy from a number of positions. “We’re seeing TXS 0128+554 at an angle, which emphasizes its Star Wars features,” CNET noted.
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CNET added, “The galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center and is blasting out twin jets of energy. The starfighter appearance became very apparent when the Very Long Baseline Array network took a look at radio signals emanating from the galaxy.”
Frankly, a galaxy shaped like a TIE fighter isn’t the strangest science news of late, given the reports of a “Galactus” cloud, the purported recovery of “off-world vehicles,” a parallel universe where time runs backward, and scientists resurrecting 100-million-year-old underwater lifeforms.
So what do you think of this galaxy far, far away? Let us know in the comments.
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Source: IGN.com NASA Discovers Galaxy Shaped Like Darth Vader's TIE Fighter