                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2026 May 17
    The featured image shows a the big beautiful barred spiral galaxy NGC
   1300 with encompassing spiral arms tinted blue from young stars. Please
             see the explanation for more detailed information.

                       NGC 1300: Barred Spiral Galaxy
                   Image Credit: NASA ESA, Hubble Heritage

   Explanation: Across the center of this spiral galaxy is a bar. And at
   the center of this bar is smaller spiral. And at the center of that
   spiral is a supermassive black hole. This all happens in the big,
   beautiful, barred spiral galaxy cataloged as NGC 1300, a galaxy that
   lies some 70 million light-years away toward the constellation of the
   river Eridanus. This Hubble Space Telescope composite view of the
   gorgeous island universe is one of the most detailed 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. How the giant bar formed, how it
   remains, and how it affects star formation remains an active topic of
   research.

                Jigsaw Universe: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
                    Tomorrow's picture: spiral unraveling
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

