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 outer ring, though, a ring not seen as it surrounds
the pictured region.
Featured in this
Hubble Space Telescope image is an inner
ring -- one that itself 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 inner ring, 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 which may have been triggered by the collision of
NGC 1512
with its galactic neighbor,
NGC 1510.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
