ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Peekaboo Galaxy

So, imagine you are playing hide and seek with your friends. You hide behind a wall and then pop out with a surprise shout of "Peekaboo!" to scare your friends. A galaxy named Peekaboo gets its name because it looks like it is playing a game of hide and seek.

Peekaboo galaxy is a galaxy that is very far away from us, so we cannot see it with our naked eyes. We use special telescopes (big machines that help us see things far away) to observe it. It is called Peekaboo because it appears to be hiding behind a cluster of other galaxies.

The galaxy we call Peekaboo is located around 500 million light-years away from us. That is really far away. One light-year is equal to the distance light travels in a year, which is approximately 6 trillion miles. So, imagine Peekaboo is about 3 quadrillion miles away from us! That's a lot!

Scientists think that the Peekaboo galaxy has been hiding because the dust particles in front of it are blocking its light from reaching us. This is why it appears fainter when we observe it from Earth. Think of it like a big gust of wind (dust particles) blowing just as you were about to pop out and say "peekaboo!".

We can still learn a lot from the Peekaboo galaxy, even though it's trying to hide from us! By studying its light and other features, scientists can understand how galaxies form and evolve over time. It's like one of your friends trying her best to hide, but you can still see her feet sticking out from behind a tree!