March 28, 2007
The universe has spent billions of years making things that shine. On your birthday, we celebrate one of its quieter masterpieces.
NGC 1365: Majestic Island Universe
Birthday · March 28, 2007
A little universe, just for you
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APOD published March 28, 2007. Credit: SSRO-South (R.Gilbert,D.Goldman,J.Harvey,D.Verschatse) - PROMPT (D.Reichart). A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is truly a majestic island universe some 200,000 light-years across. Located a mere 60 million light-years away toward the chemical constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is a dominant member of the well-studied Fornax galaxy cluster. This impressively sharp color image shows intense star forming regions at the ends of the bar and along the spiral arms, as well as details of dust lanes cutting across the galaxy's bright core. At the core lies a supermassive black hole. Astronomers think NGC 1365's prominent bar plays a crucial role in the galaxy's evolution, drawing gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom and ultimately feeding material into the central black hole.
Image credit: SSRO-South (R.Gilbert,D.Goldman,J.Harvey,D.Verschatse) - PROMPT (D.Reichart)