Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1672

Many spiral galaxies have bars across their centers. Even our own Milky Way Galaxy is thought to have a modest central bar . Prominently barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672, pictured above , was captured in spectacular detail in this recently released image taken by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope . Visible are dark filamentary dust lanes , young clusters of bright blue stars, red emission nebulas of glowing hydrogen gas, a long bright bar of stars across the center, and a bright active nucleus that likely houses a supermassive black hole . Light takes about 60 million years to reach us from NGC 1672 , which spans about 75,000 light years across. NGC 1672, which appears toward the constellation of the Swordfish ( Dorado ), is being studied to find out how a spiral bar contributes to star formation in a galaxy's central regions.