NGC 4314: A Nuclear Starburst Ring
Is this old galaxy up to new tricks? The
barred spiral galaxy NGC 4314 is billions of years old,
but its appearance has changed markedly over
just the past few millions of years.
During that time, a nuclear ring of
bright young stars has been evolving.
The inset picture of NGC 4314 taken by
McDonald Observatory shows the whole galaxy
and boxes the small region around the core imaged by the
Hubble Space Telescope.
This
inner region appears much like a miniature
spiral galaxy itself,
complete with
dust lanes and spiral arms,
even though it is only a few thousand light-years across.
Further study of
NGC 4314 might help astronomers understand how the
inner and outer parts of this galaxy interact,
and what caused this unusual
ring of star formation.