Bold and beautiful, NGC 1300 is a marvelous example of a barred spiral galaxy. Unlike in other spiral galaxies where the starry arms curl outward from the center of the galaxy, NGC 1300's arms twist away from the ends of a straight bar of stars that stretches across the galaxy's core. Observational evidence suggests that our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is a barred spiral as well.
NGC 1300's spiral arms include blue clusters of young stars, pink clouds that are forming new stars, and dark lanes of dust. Two prominent dust lanes also cut through the galaxy's bar, which contains mostly older, orangish stars. These dust lanes disappear into a tight spiral feature at the center of the bar. Interestingly, only galaxies with large bars appear to have such a "spiral within a spiral." Hubble's image of NGC 1300, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys, reveals finer details in these features than ever seen before.
Using Hubble to study more than 2,000 spiral galaxies both near and far, astronomers have learned that barred spiral galaxies are more common today than they were in the past. Led by Kartik Sheth of the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, the team found that 65 percent of present-day spiral galaxies have bars, but 7 billion years ago, only 20 percent of spirals had them. The researchers also noticed that the percentage of massive spiral galaxies that have bars was about the same in the past as it is today, but for low-mass spirals, more present-day galaxies have bars than the earlier ones do.
Galaxies take time to mature, so today's galaxies are typically more developed than those from billions of years ago. Astronomers also know that larger, more massive galaxies tend to develop faster — and thus earlier — than smaller, less massive galaxies do. The findings, therefore, imply that bars are a sign of maturity among spiral galaxies.
Constellation: Eridanus
Distance: 69 million light-years (21 megaparsecs)
Instrument: Advanced Camera for Surveys/WFC
Image Filters: F435W (B), F555W (V), F814W (I), F658N (H-alpha)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | NGC 1300 |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
