images

Nucleus of galaxy NGC 300 in Sculptor

by

Nasa/ESA/Novapix

Reference

a-gax03-00009

Date

2008-10-01

NGC 300 resides 7 million light-years from Earth. In this image, Hubble space telescope resolves a dense swarm of stars, patches of dust, and a bright central star cluster. This cluster lies at the very nucleus of the galaxy. Similar clusters are thought to be related to the formation of supermassive black holes. NGC 300 is part of a detailed survey called the ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury program (ANGST). In this census Hubble observed roughly 14 million stars in 69 galaxies.