NGC 4945

NGC 4945 is a barred spiral galaxy situated around 13 million light years away in Centaurus. It is one of the brightest galaxies in Centaurus. The galaxy is seen near edge on with an obvious bright center.
The galaxy is roughly the size of the Milky Way. There are numerous dust lanes evident as well as many obvious star forming regions. Although the nucleus is obscured by dust, X-ray studies of NGC 4945 indicate high levels of radiation consistent with the existence of a massive black hole and active star formation.

Imaged in LRGB on our Planewave CDK 24 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.

Image Processing: Mark Hanson

Data: Hanson, Mazlin, Parker, Forman

Enjoy, Mark