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> Heart of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1808
Heart of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1808
author: Nasa/Stsci/Novapix
reference: a-gax18-08001
Image Size 300 DPI: 11 * 11 cm
NASA Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 has captured a flurry of star birth near the heart of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1808. Composite of images using colored filters that isolate red and infrared light as well as light from glowing hydrogen. The red and infrared light (seen as yellow) highlight older stars, while hydrogen (seen as blue) reveals areas of star birth. Colors were assigned to this false-color image to emphasize the vigorous star formation taking place around the galaxy's center. NGC 1808 is called a barred spiral galaxy because of the straight lines of star formation on both sides of the bright nucleus. The entire star burst region shown here is about 3,000 light-years across. This galaxy is about 40 million light-years away in the southern constellation Columba. The observation was taken on Aug. 14, 1997.
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