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Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh
Explanation:
Barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is truly a majestic
island universe some 200,000
light-years across.
Located a mere 60 million light-years away toward the faint but heated
constellation
Fornax,
NGC 1365 is a
dominant member of the well-studied
Fornax Cluster of galaxies.
This impressively
sharp color image
shows the intense, reddish star forming regions near the
ends of central bar and along the spiral arms,
with details of the obscuring dust lanes cutting
across the galaxy's bright core.
At the core lies a supermassive black hole.
Astronomers think
NGC 1365's
prominent bar plays a crucial role in the
galaxy's
evolution,
drawing gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom
and ultimately feeding material into the
central
black hole.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: NGC 1365 - spiral galaxy
Publications with words: NGC 1365 - spiral galaxy
See also: