Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300

Big, beautiful barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300 lies some 70 million light-years
away on the banks of the constellation Eridanus. This Hubble Space Telescope
composite view of the gorgeous island universe was released at this week's
meeting of the American Astronomical Society as one of the largest Hubble
images ever made of a complete galaxy. NGC 1300 spans over 100,000 light-years
and the Hubble image reveals striking details of the galaxy's dominant central
bar and majestic spiral arms. In fact, on close inspection the nucleus of this
classic barred spiral itself shows a remarkable region of spiral structure about
3,300 light-years across. Unlike other spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way,
NGC 1300 is not presently known to have a massive central black hole.