images

Around the compact nucleus of NGC 300

by

Anglo-Australian Observatory/David Malin Images/Novapix

Reference

a-gax03-00006

Date

2006-09-15

At the centre of the spiral arms of NGC 300 is an unusually compact, star-like nucleus. It is surrounded by a faint but extensive yellow haze, consisting of millions of faint, cool stars. This is the older population, or 'bulge' of NGC 300, a distant equivalent to the (much more numerous) stars that we see in our own galaxy as the brightest part of the Milky Way in Sagittarius.