Posted on 11/24/2012 4:51:09 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Explanation: 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh]
Some of these objects are Messier than others. Whew! It's been weeks or months since I could use that old joke.
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NASA -- Fornax Galaxy Cluster
Fornax isn’t on it, but “messier” is part of the image URL, so go figure.
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/messier_list.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Messier_objects
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fornax_Cluster
http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0949m/
The photo at this post location is beautiful. Please correct me, if wrong, regarding this observation. Is each bright spot in the photo a galaxy?
Foolish me. Clicked and found out each bright spot is a galaxy. Sorry SunkenCiv. Still learning.
Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel,
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel,
Like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that’s turning running rings around the moon,
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face,
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space.
Only a few of them are galaxies. Most of them are foreground stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. Since we are embedded in a swarm of Milky Way stars, the swarm is seen in all galaxy photos, like spots of dirt on a window.
What’s with the 2 straight lines in the center??
Ruins a beautiful picture.
:’) Thanks nti.
I’m glad someone pointed those out — Those two lines are absolute proof that this so-called galaxy was faked and this photo originated in an abandoned movie studio out in the desert. ;’)
It’s REAL low on the horizon even here at +32 north. No way Mr Messier could have seen it from Paris.
Besides, his ‘scopes were of poor quality. The best one he had was the equivilant of a 2.4 inch scope. At least it was dark back then.
NGC 1365 is a Caldwell object. The Australians consider it their Andromedia Galaxy.
Anyway, that whole area of the sky is wonderful to scan around with a scope.
It says in the caption they are marking a new supernova discovered last month.
Thanks CtL!
The two straight lines indicate a supernova.
I can see how someone might miss that when reading the description of the image, for it is not quite clear.
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