NASA shares stunning image of spiral galaxy with well-defined central bar and long arms

NASA on January 15 shared a spellbinding photograph of the cosmos barred spiral galaxy,  a spiral galaxy known for its central bar-shaped structure which is composed of a myriad of stars. Taking to its official Instagram handle, the space agency wrote, “At a distance of 67 million light-years away, NGC 613 is a stunning example of a barred spiral galaxy. It’s easy to distinguish the galaxy as such because of its well-defined central bar and long arms, which spiral loosely around the nucleus.” 

According to NASA, NGC 613 galaxy was first discovered in 1798 by German-English astronomer William Herschel. The galaxy was observed by amateur astronomer Victor Buso while he was testing a new camera on a telescope in 2016. A curious spot of light caught his eye which was originating out of a supernova in the southern constellation of Sculptor 67 million light-years away with two stellar nuclei that were emitted apart by a stream of dust. Later observed by NASA and ESA Hubble Space Telescope, NGC 613 was dubbed as barred galaxy by the astronomers owing to its well-defined central bar and long arms that radiated out of the nucleus. 

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[Barred spiral galaxy NGC 613  was obtained with the FORS1 and FORS2 multi-mode instruments. Credit: ESO]

Evolves into elliptical galaxy

“As revealed by surveys, about two-thirds of spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way galaxy, contain a bar,” NASA explained in a release. The arms of the barred spiral galaxy influence the motions of stars, dust, and gas. Galaxy’s peanut-shaped bars pull the galactic material used for the star formation into the nucleic disk, resulting in a lightning burst. Barred spiral galaxy would eventually evolve into an elliptical galaxy, according to the school observatory. The cosmos lovers were rendered awestruck by the unique structure of the barred spiral galaxy with a stunning ribbon of stars and gas. “There’s gotta be life out there in such a vast universe,” one wrote. “Do we know why some galaxies get in that shape actually?” Another asked. “There’s probably a galactic civil war happening somewhere in there,” the third joked. 

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