Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2020 June 11

                        Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300
                Image Credit: Hubble Heritage Team, ESA, NASA

   Explanation: Big, beautiful, barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300 lies some 70
   million light-years away on the banks of the constellation Eridanus.
   This Hubble Space Telescope composite view of the gorgeous island
   universe is one of the largest Hubble images ever made of a complete
   galaxy. NGC 1300 spans over 100,000 light-years and the Hubble image
   reveals striking details of the galaxy's dominant central bar and
   majestic spiral arms. In fact, on close inspection the nucleus of this
   classic barred spiral itself shows a remarkable region of spiral
   structure about 3,000 light-years across. Like other spiral galaxies,
   including our own Milky Way, NGC 1300 is thought to have a supermassive
   central black hole.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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