In the News: Another zoom-in sequence, this time of NGC 1365 (The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy) taken by the HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO's Very Large TElescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile:
An elegant galaxy in an unusual light (w/ Video)
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A new image taken with the powerful HAWK-I camera on ESO's Very Large Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile shows the beautiful barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 in infrared light. NGC 1365 is a member of the Fornax cluster of galaxies, and lies about 60 million light-years from Earth.
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interestingly the article (journos) say:
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The huge bar disturbs the shape of the gravitational field of the galaxy and this leads to regions where gas is compressed and star formation is triggered.
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The bar also funnels gas and dust gravitationally into the very centre of the galaxy, where astronomers have found evidence for the presence of a super-massive black hole, well hidden among myriads of intensely bright new stars.
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Different parts of the galaxy take different times to make a full rotation around the core of the galaxy, with the outer parts of the bar completing one circuit in about 350 million years.
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Some reading up to do on these latter statements.
… If I can find the paper ...
Cheers