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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300
Explanation: NGC 1300 is a large spiral galaxy that appears as a flattened figure eight. A huge bar that spans over 150,000 light-years across the galaxy center dominates its appearance. The picturesque galaxy lies about 75 million light-years distant, so that light that we see now left during the age of the dinosaurs . Although it is well known how fast different parts of NGC 1300 rotate , the specific orbits of many component stars -- including how they interact with the gigantic bar -- remains a topic of research . Our own Milky Way Galaxy is a spiral galaxy with a less prominent bar. NGC 1300 can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of Eridanus .
| Date | October 4, 2000 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit & Copyright: S. Lee & D. F. Malin , AAO |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |