NGC 1365：壮丽的宇宙岛

2022年12月22日

NGC 1365: Majestic Island Universe
Image 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.

Tomorrow’s picture: northern Saturn

NGC 1365：壮丽的宇宙岛
图像提供与版权: Martin Pugh

说明: 宏伟美丽的棒旋星系NGC 1365，是个大小约有200,000光年的宇宙岛。位于天炉座方向6千万光年远处的NGC 1365，是我们熟悉的天炉座星系团里，最具主宰性的成员星系之一。在这张精采的清晰彩色图像里，可以看到在核心棒的末端和螺旋臂上，都有活跃的恒星形成区，而切过星系明亮核心的尘埃带，其细微的结构也都清楚可辨。星系的核心则藏着一颗超大质量黑洞。天文学家认为NGC 1365鲜明的星系棒，在星系演化里扮演着很关键的角色，它驱使气体和尘埃聚成恒星形成区，并提供物质喂食位在星系核心的黑洞。

明日的图片: northern Saturn