Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured the most detailed image so far of the central part of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 613.
This image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 613 was snapped by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The color composite was assembled from images taken in visible and near-infrared light. Three filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / G. Folatelli.
NGC 613 lies 84.8 million light years away in the southern constellation of Sculptor.
Otherwise known as ESO 413-11 and LEDA 5849, this galaxy was discovered by the English astronomer William Herschel in 1798, and then re-discovered by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop.
It was catalogued by the Danish-Irish astronomer John Louis Emil Dreyer in his famous ‘New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars,’ published in 1888.
NGC 613 is classified as a barred spiral galaxy for the bar-shaped band of stars and dust crossing its intensely glowing center.
It also has a weak inner ring structure circling the bar and moderate to loosely wound spiral arms.
“Featured here in a new image, NGC 613 is a lovely example of a barred spiral galaxy,” Hubble astronomers said.
“It is easily distinguishable as such because of its well defined central bar and long arms, which spiral loosely around its nucleus.”
“As revealed by surveys, about two thirds of spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way Galaxy, contain a bar,” they said.
“Recent studies have shown that bars are more common in galaxies now than they were in the past, which gives us important clues about galaxy formation and evolution.”
