NGC 1365: 壮丽的宇宙岛

NGC 1365: 壮丽的宇宙岛

2024年2月1日 NGC 1365: Majestic Island Universe Image Credit & Copyright: Processing – Jean-Baptiste Auroux, Data – Mike Selby 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 sharp color image shows the intense, reddish star forming regions near the ends of the galaxy’s central bar and along its spiral arms. Seen in fine detail, obscuring dust lanes cut 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…

天炉座星系团

天炉座星系团

2023年11月2日 The Fornax Cluster of Galaxies Image Credit & Copyright: Marcelo Rivera Explanation: Named for the southern constellation toward which most of its galaxies can be found, the Fornax Cluster is one of the closest clusters of galaxies. About 62 million light-years away, it’s over 20 times more distant than our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy, but only about 10 percent farther along than the better known and more populated Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Seen across this three degree wide field-of-view, almost every yellowish splotch on the image is an elliptical galaxy in the Fornax cluster. Elliptical galaxies NGC 1399 and NGC 1404 are the dominant, bright cluster members toward the bottom center. A standout, large barred spiral galaxy, NGC 1365, is visible on the upper right as…

韦伯图像: 棒旋星系NGC 1365

韦伯图像: 棒旋星系NGC 1365

2023年2月18日 Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365 from Webb Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Janice Lee (NOIRLab) – Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI) Explanation: A mere 56 million light-years distant toward the southern constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is an enormous barred spiral galaxy about 200,000 light-years in diameter. That’s twice the size of our own barred spiral Milky Way. This sharp image from the James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveals stunning details of this magnificent spiral in infrared light. Webb’s field of view stretches about 60,000 light-years across NGC 1365, exploring the galaxy’s core and bright newborn star clusters. The intricate network of dusty filaments and bubbles is created by young stars along spiral arms winding from the galaxy’s central bar. Astronomers suspect the gravity…