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Anne’s Picture of the Day: Spiral Galaxy NGC 6384
read more at Anne’s Astronomy News http://annesastronomynews.com/
January 18, 2013
NGC 6384, a spiral galaxy in Ophiuchus
Image Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford, Rancho Del Sol Observatory (http://www.imagingdeepsky.com)
NGC 6384 is a barred spiral galaxy of about 150.000 light-years across that lies some 80 million light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus (The Serpent Bearer). It is speeding away from us at roughly 1680 kilometers per second.
The galaxy has blue spiral arms laced with dark dust lanes and a yellowish core. Star formation in the center is being fuelled by the galaxy’s bar structure; astronomers think such galactic bars funnel gas inwards, where it accumulates to form new stars.
Many stars have already come to the ends of their lives in NGC 6384, but in 1971, we could witness one of its stars star explode as a Type Ia supernova, which stood out against the bright foreground stars.
This occurs when a compact star that has ceased fusion in its core, called a white dwarf, increases its mass beyond a critical limit by gobbling up matter from a companion star. A runaway nuclear explosion then makes the star suddenly as bright as a whole galaxy.
Supernova explosions are enriching the intergalactic gas with elements like oxygen, iron, and silicon that will be incorporated into new generations of stars and planets.
The positioning of NGC 6384, not far from the center of the Milky Way on the sky, means that it is somewhat obscured by our galaxy’s dust and stars. Combined with the galaxy’s low surface brightness, NGC 6384 is a bit of a challenging target for astrophotographers.
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2013-01-18 05:33:59
Source: http://annesastronomynews.com/annes-picture-of-the-day-spiral-galaxy-ngc-6384/
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