March 30, 2010
The same gravity that holds galaxies together and keeps planets in their orbits also held you to the Earth on the day you were born.
Unusual Starburst Galaxy NGC 1313
Birthday · March 30, 2010
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APOD published March 30, 2010. Credit: Robert Gendler. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Why is this galaxy so discombobulated? Usually, galaxies this topsy-turvy result from a recent collision with a neighboring galaxy. Spiral galaxy NGC 1313, however, appears to be alone. Brightly lit with new and blue massive stars, star formation appears so rampant in NGC 1313 that it has been labeled a starburst galaxy. Strange features of NGC 1313 include that its spiral arms are lopsided and its rotational axis is not at the center of the nuclear bar. Pictured above, NGC 1313 spans about 50,000 light years and lies only about 15 million light years away toward the constellation of the Reticle (Reticulum). Continued numerical modeling of galaxies like NGC 1313 might shed some light on its unusual nature.
Image credit: Robert Gendler