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Credit & Copyright: European Southern Observatory
Explanation:
Why do some spiral galaxies have a ring around the center?
Spiral galaxy
NGC 1398 not only has a
ring of pearly stars, gas and
dust around its center, but a
bar of stars and gas across its center,
and spiral arms that appear like ribbons farther out.
The featured image was taken with
ESO's
Very Large Telescope at the
Paranal Observatory in
Chile
and resolves this
grand spiral in impressive detail.
NGC 1398 lies about
65 million
light years distant, meaning the light we see today left this galaxy when
dinosaurs were disappearing from the
Earth.
The photogenic galaxy is visible with
a small telescope toward the constellation of the Furnace
(Fornax).
The ring near the center is likely an expanding
density wave of star
formation, caused either by a
gravitational encounter with another galaxy,
or by the galaxy's own gravitational asymmetries.
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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: spiral galaxy
Publications with words: spiral galaxy
See also: