Ring of Stellar Fire
Sig14 026

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Observation • October 22nd, 2014 • sig14-026

sig14-026

A new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, taken in infrared light, shows where the action is taking place in galaxy NGC 1291. The outer ring, colored red in this view, is filled with new stars that are igniting and heating up dust that glows with infrared light. The stars in the central area produce shorter-wavelength infrared light than that seen in the ring, and are colored blue. This central area is where older stars live, having long ago gobbled up the available gas supply, or fuel, for making new stars.

The galaxy is about 12 billion years old and is located 33 million light years away in the Eridanus constellation. It is known as a barred galaxy because a central bar of stars (which looks like a blue "S" in this view) dominates its center.

When galaxies are young and gas-rich, stellar bars drive gas toward the center, feeding star formation. Over time, as the star-making fuel runs out, the central regions become quiescent and star-formation activity shifts to the outskirts of a galaxy. There, spiral density waves and resonances induced by the central bar help convert gas to stars. The outer ring, seen here in red, is one such resonance location, where gas has been trapped and ignited into a star-forming frenzy.

Infrared light at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.5 microns are rendered in blue and green, showing the distribution of stars, while dust features that glow brightly at 8.0 microns are shown in red.

About the Object

Name
NGC 1291
Type
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Galaxy > Type > Barred
Distance
33,000,000 Light Years
Redshift
0.002799

Color Mapping

Band Wavelength Telescope
Infrared 3.6 µm Spitzer IRAC
Infrared 4.5 µm Spitzer IRAC
Infrared 8.0 µm Spitzer IRAC

Astrometrics

Position ()
RA =3h 17m 18.2s
Dec = -41° 6' 29.3"
Field of View
14.9 x 14.9 arcminutes
Orientation
North is 32.5° left of vertical