Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1015

The picturesque barred spiral galaxy NGC 1015 resides at a distance of about 117 million light-years from our Milky Way Galaxy in the direction of the constellation Cetus, the Whale. It has a bright, fairly large center, tightly wound spiral arms, and a central bar of gas and stars. Scientists believe that black holes at the center of barred spirals inwardly funnel gas and energy from the outer arms into the core via these glowing bars. Bars are found in approximately two-thirds of all spiral galaxies, and the arms of this galaxy swirl outwards from a pale, yellow ring encircling the bar itself. NGC 1015 gained extra significance to astronomers in 2009 when a Type Ia supernova was discovered in this pale, yellow ring that joins the two outer ends of its galactic bar. Since these flare with a predictably known brightness, scientists can calculate the distance to the star by comparing this intrinsic brightness to its measured brightness.