NGC 300, Spiral Galaxy in Sculptor

NGC 300, Spiral Galaxy in Sculptor NGC 300 is so interesting because it is so normal. It has well defined spiral arms with a small central bulge. The spiral arms are areas of higher density where most of the stars exist and where new stars are formed. The reddish areas in the image are areas of star formation and the red color comes from hydrogen gas emission as the stars are born. All stars initially consist mainly of Hydrogen, which accounts for 75% of all the elements in the universe. The stars convert the Hydrogen into Helium in a nuclear reaction and  because there is less mass in the resulting Helium they emit heat and light. All of the heavier elements that exist in the universe are created by the stars.   NGC 300 is in the southern constellation Sculptor, 37 degrees below the celestial equator.  Careful inspection of the central bulge shows that individual stars in the galaxy are resolved. However, all of the bright stars in the image are not in NGC 300 but exist in our Milky Way galaxy.  It is 94,000 light years in actual size, a bit smaller than the Milky Way, and spans the size of the full moon in the sky. At 7 million light years away we are seeing it as it was 7 million years ago but  it is actually one of the closer galaxies to us. The raw images were taken in Rio Hurtado Chile and involve 86 subimages taken over 30 hours.