The magnificent central bar of NGC 2217 (also known as AM 0619-271) shines in the constellation Canis Major (The Big Dog), in an image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
Approximately 65 million light years from Earth, this barred spiral galaxy is similar in size to our Milky Way, 100,000 light years in diameter. Many stars are concentrated in its central region forming the light barsurrounded by a set of tightly coiled spiral arms, NASA reports.
The central bar in this type of galaxy plays an important role in its evolution, helping to channel gas from the disk towards the center of the galaxy. The transported gas and dust then become new stars or are fed to the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, details Europe Press.
Supermassive black holes, weighing between a few hundred and more than a billion times the mass of our Sun, are present in almost all large galaxies.
This image was colored with data from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS). (YO)
