beautiful barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300

One of the largest captures by the Hubble telescope up until it's time in 2005. The Hubble telescope captured a display of starlight, glowing gas, and silhouetted dark clouds of interstellar dust in this 4-foot-by-8-foot image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300. NGC 1300 is considered to be prototypical of barred spiral galaxies. Barred spirals differ from normal spiral galaxies in that the arms of the galaxy do not spiral all the way into the center, but are connected to the two ends of a straight bar of stars containing the nucleus at its center. Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)