From The European Southern Observatory
NGC 1365, one of the most prominent "barred" galaxies, is a supergiant galaxy with a diameter of about 200,000 light years, in the southern constellation Fornax (The Furnace). It is a major member of the Fornax Cluster of Galaxies at a distance of about 60 million light-years with a recession velocity of 1632 km/sec. A massive straight bar runs through this galaxy and contains the nucleus at the center. It consists mostly of older stars that give it a reddish color to the bar.
The gravitational perturbation from the bar causes interstellar gas and dust clouds to form a pair of spiral arms that extend from the ends of the bar. Young luminous hot stars, born out of the interstellar clouds, give these arms a prominent appearance and a blue color. The bar and spiral pattern rotates clockwise, as seen from us. One complete rotation n takes about 350 million years.
This true-color image was made from three exposures in the B (blue), V (green) and R (red) optical bands. The exposure times were 360, 180 and 140 seconds, respectively. The field measures about 7 arcmin x 7 arcmin. North is up and East is left. .
Based on press release with ESO PR Photo 08a/99
Catalog #: Photo 08a/99
Target Name: The Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365
Last Modified On: Sunday, December 16, 2000