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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.
Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: The Nuclear Ring
Explanation: What's happening around the center of this spiral galaxy? Seen in total, NGC 1512 appears to be a barred spiral galaxy -- a type of spiral that has a straight bar of stars across its center. This bar crosses an inner ring , though, a ring not seen as it surrounds the pictured region . Featured in this Hubble Space Telescope image is a “nuclear ring” -- one that surrounds the nucleus of the spiral. The two rings are connected not only by a bar of bright stars but by dark lanes of dust. Inside of this nuclearring , dust continues to spiral right into the very center -- possibly the location of a large black hole . The rings are bright with newly formed stars .
| Date | July 10, 2017 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit: NASA , ESA , Hubble , LEGUS ; Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |