The Hubble Space Telescope
has returned a stunning view of this distant barred galaxy.
Known as
NGC 1672, the galaxy sits some 60
million light-years from Earth towards the southern constellation Dorado (The
Goldfish).
Unlike our
own spiral-shaped Milky Way galaxy, the arms of NGC 1672 do not twist in all in
to its center. Instead, they meet at a central bar that crosses the galaxy’s
nucleus and serves as a hotbed for star formation.
In this
image, taken by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys in August 2005 and
released this week, clusters of hot young blue stars are forming along NGC 1672’s
spiral arms, where they ionize surrounding clouds of hydrogen gas to generate a
reddish hue.
A few
bright stars in the foreground, actually located in the Milky Way, appear as
bright diamonds, while background galaxies have the illusory effect of seeming
embedded within NGC 1672. Dark dust lanes compliment the galaxy’s four principal
arms as they extend out from its center.
-- SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team
(STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration.
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