These 'ocular features' last only a few tens of millions of years, astronomer Michele Kaufman, who reported the discovery in 2016, said in a statement. This eye-shaped feature is actually a huge stream of stars and dust, produced when IC 2163 (at right in image) brushed against another spiral galaxy, NGC 2207 (left).
(Image credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI))Įver feel like you're being watched? The disk of spiral galaxy IC 2163 seems to peer out into space with an enormous eye.
