PhotonCollector
31-10-2005, 10:39 AM
Hi all,
The first image is another of my favourite galaxies, NGC 1365, a spiral-barred galaxy and black hole candidate. Our almost face-on line of sight to this galaxy gives us a perfect view of this spiral galaxy with its distinct bar crossing the galactic core and connecting each of this galaxy's massive spiral arms. NGC 1365 is around 200,000 light years across at its widest span and we see this galaxy from 60-Million light years away appearing in the southern constellation of Fornax. NGC 1365 is easily observed in amateur telescopes and appears 11.2' x 6.9' arc-minutes in size and glows at Magnitude 9.9b. This image is approximately 25' arc-minutes wide.
The second image is a 3x enlargement of the core region of NGC 1365. The nucleus of this galaxy is pin-pointed by the bright yellow-orange object at centre image, bright blue-white regions, north and south of the nucleus, are regions where star formation is taking place at a furious rate. Lanes of dark matter which fan out along the galactic bar can be traced extending from the galaxy nucleus. Other star forming regions highlight each of the two spiral arms though these regions are producing stars at a much more casual rate than the regions near the galaxy's nucleus.
Thanks for looking.
Paul M.
The first image is another of my favourite galaxies, NGC 1365, a spiral-barred galaxy and black hole candidate. Our almost face-on line of sight to this galaxy gives us a perfect view of this spiral galaxy with its distinct bar crossing the galactic core and connecting each of this galaxy's massive spiral arms. NGC 1365 is around 200,000 light years across at its widest span and we see this galaxy from 60-Million light years away appearing in the southern constellation of Fornax. NGC 1365 is easily observed in amateur telescopes and appears 11.2' x 6.9' arc-minutes in size and glows at Magnitude 9.9b. This image is approximately 25' arc-minutes wide.
The second image is a 3x enlargement of the core region of NGC 1365. The nucleus of this galaxy is pin-pointed by the bright yellow-orange object at centre image, bright blue-white regions, north and south of the nucleus, are regions where star formation is taking place at a furious rate. Lanes of dark matter which fan out along the galactic bar can be traced extending from the galaxy nucleus. Other star forming regions highlight each of the two spiral arms though these regions are producing stars at a much more casual rate than the regions near the galaxy's nucleus.
Thanks for looking.
Paul M.