Great Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365
NGC 1365, the Great Barred Spiral Galaxy, lies 61 million light-years away in the constellation Fornax (the Furnace). It is one of the largest galaxies known to astronomers, measuring 200,000 light-years from end to end. Astronomers think that the Milky Way may look very similar to this galaxy, but at half the size. The bright center of the galaxy is thought to be due to huge amounts of superhot gas ejected from the ring of material circling a central black hole. Young luminous hot stars, born out of the interstellar clouds, give the arms a prominent appearance and a blue color. The bar and spiral pattern rotates, with one full turn taking about 350 million years. This image combines observations performed through three different filters (B, V, R) with the Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile. Credit: ESO/IDA/Danish m/ R. Gendler, J-E. Ovaldsen, C. Th̦ne, and C. Feron.
Size: 3586px × 2700px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1365, astronomical, astronomy, barred, body, celestial, cloud, cluster, deep, exploration, fornax, galaxies, galaxy, gas, great, heavenly, interstellar, nebula, nebulae, ngc, ngc1365, object, science, sky, space, spiral, star
