Apod Blog: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300

NGC 1300 has a bar spanning the center with two arms at both ends. It is located in the constellation Eridanus. It is 69 light-years away and spans over 100,000 light-years or 5.5 arcmin. It is one of the largest Hubble image of a complete galaxy. At the center, there is spiral shaped design that might be caused by gas from the bars spiraling inwards. Only barred galaxys have these spiral designs in the center. The spiral means that the galaxy does not have a black hole or it is quiescent as most galaxys do have a central black hole. New observations show that our own Milky Way might also be a barred spiral galaxy, but the bar is small compared to NGC 1300.