NGC 1309: Spiral Galaxy and Friends
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
A gorgeous spiral galaxy
some 100 million light-years distant, NGC 1309 lies on the
banks of the constellation of the River (Eridanus).
NGC 1309 spans about
30,000 light-years, making it about one third the size of our larger Milky Way galaxy.
Bluish clusters of young stars and dust
lanes are seen to trace out NGC 1309's spiral arms as they wind around an older
yellowish star population at its core.
Not just another pretty face-on spiral
galaxy, observations of NGC 1309's recent supernova
and Cepheid variable
stars contribute to the calibration of the
expansion of the Universe.
Still, after you get
over this beautiful galaxy's grand design, check
out the array of more distant background galaxies also recorded in
this sharp, reprocessed, Hubble Space Telescope
view.
