An older galaxy ignites with an outer ring of stellar life (Geoff Healey)

Celestial hemisphere: Southern · Constellation: Eridanus (Eri) · Contains: NGC 1269

An older galaxy ignites with an outer ring of stellar life, Geoff Healey

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An older galaxy ignites with an outer ring of stellar life

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An older galaxy ignites with an outer ring of stellar life

NGC 1291 is located about 33 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus. It is what's known as a barred galaxy, because its central region is dominated by a long bar of stars (in the new image, the bar is within the blue circle and looks like the letter "S").The bar formed early in the history of the galaxy. It churns material around, forcing stars and gas from their original circular orbits into large, non-circular, radial orbits. This creates resonances -- areas where gas is compressed and triggered to form new stars. Our own Milky Way galaxy has a bar, though not as prominent as the one in NGC 1291. Courtesy jpl.nasa.comIt was discovered by James Dunlop in 1826 and subsequently entered into the New General Catalogue as NGC 1291 by Johan Ludvig Emil Dreyer. John Herschel then observed the same object in 1836 and entered it into the catalog as NGC 1269 without realising that it was a duplicate. This galaxy was cited as an example of a "transitional galaxy" by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer team in 2007.In the background there is a myriad of very small, faint much more distant galaxies. Quite amazing I think.

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An older galaxy ignites with an outer ring of stellar life

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