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> Spiral galaxy NGC 908 in Cetus

Spiral galaxy NGC 908 in Cetus

author: ESO/Novapix

reference: a-gax09-08002

Image Size 300 DPI: 16 * 14 cm

NGC 908 is located 65 million light-years towards the constellation of Cetus (the Whale). This spiral galaxy, discovered in 1786 by William Herschel, is a so-called starburst galaxy, that is, a galaxy undergoing a phase where it spawns stars at a frantic rate. Clusters of young and massive stars can be seen in the spiral arms. The galaxy, which is about 75 000 light-years long, also clearly presents uneven and thick spiral arms, the one on the left appearing to go upwards, forming a kind of ribbon. These properties indicate that NGC 908 most probably suffered a close encounter with another galaxy, even though none is visible at present. Image based on data obtained with FORS2 on ESO's Very Large Telescope in the night of 13 to 14 August 2000.

Keywords for this photo:

2000 - 2006 - ASTRONOMY - CETUS - FORS2 - GALAXY - MASSIVE STAR - NGC 908 - SPIRAL GALAXY - STAR - STAR FORMATION - VERY LARGE TELESCOPE - VLT - YOUNG STAR -