Barred spiral galaxy image captured by Hubble space telescope

An image of a “barred spiral” galaxy that could help us better understand our own Milky Way has been captured by .

Most of the known fall into this “barred” category – which are defined by the pronounced bar structure across their centres.

The presence of this structure may be an indication of a galaxy’s age.

Two-thirds of nearby, younger galaxies have the bar, while only a fifth of older, more distant spirals have it.

An image of a barred spiral galaxy that could help us better understand our own Milky Way has been captured by Hubble space telescope photo

An image of a "barred spiral" galaxy that could help us better understand our own Milky Way has been captured by Hubble space telescope

The new picture also continues the Hubble space telescope’s long heritage of striking .

In the upper left of the image is a cluster showing recent star formation that is just visible to Hubble’s cameras.

But it is a bright source in X-ray light; astronomers believe that this IXO-5 X-ray source is actually a “binary” system comprising a star and a black hole in mutual orbit.

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Posted by on Feb 3 2012. Filed under Science & Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.

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