Located 500 million light years away in the constellation of Ursa Major, Mayall's Object sports the curious shape of a question mark—a fitting emblem of Nicholas Mayall's bewilderment when he first spotted it in 1940. Was it a nearby nebula or something far more distant?

Fast forward a few decades, and thanks to technological leaps, we now know that Mayall's Object is the chaotic aftermath of a colossal galactic collision. At some point, one galaxy dramatically plunged through another, resulting in such a cataclysmic event that both galaxies were torn apart beyond recognition. Initially, stars and interstellar matter were drawn into the core of the struck galaxy. Then, in a spectacular display of cosmic cause and effect, everything rebounded outward, forming a striking ring structure.