This image, released last week, shows the relatively nearby spiral galaxy NGC 300
Forgive this galaxy for looking a bit like a snowflake. It is not seen in its
normal light.
The image, released last week, shows the relatively nearby spiral galaxy NGC
300. It was taken by NASA's new Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission in
a single orbit exposure of 27 minutes on Oct. 10, 2003.
NGC 300 is about 7 million light-years from our Milky Way galaxy and is one of a group of galaxies in the Southern Hemisphere constellation Sculptor.
NGC 300 is often used as a prototype of a spiral galaxy because in optical images it displays flowing spiral arms and a bright central region of older (and thus redder) stars. It is thought to look similar to our own galaxy.
But GALEX shows a different view. NGC 300's ultraviolet
emissions reveal it to be an efficient star-forming galaxy, astronomers said.
The bright blue regions represent new stars forming all the way into the nucleus
of the galaxy. Hot, young stars emit prodigiously in the UV, and that radiation
is thought to play
a role -- perhaps not always a positive one -- in planet formation. [Another
view of NGC 300]
Credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech
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