November 24, 2012
The elements that make you — the calcium in your bones, the oxygen in your lungs — were scattered across space by dying stars long before...
NGC 1365: Majestic Spiral with Supernova
Birthday · November 24, 2012
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APOD published November 24, 2012. Credit: Martin Pugh. 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 sharp color image shows intense star forming regions at the ends of the bar and along the spiral arms, and 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. Discovered on October 27, the position of a bright supernova is indicated in NGC 1365. Cataloged as SN2012fr, the type Ia supernova is the explosion of a white dwarf star.
Image credit: Martin Pugh