NGC 300: A Galaxy of Stars

NGC 300: A Galaxy of Stars

Image Credit & Copyright:
Daniel Stern

Explanation:
This galaxy is unusual for how many stars it seems that you can see.

Stars are so abundantly evident in this
deep exposure of the spiral galaxy NGC 300 because so many of these stars are
bright blue and grouped
into resolvable bright star clusters.

Additionally,
NGC 300
is so clear because it is one of the closest
spiral galaxies to Earth, as
light takes only about 6 million years to get here.

Of course, galaxies are composed of many more faint stars than bright,
and even more of a galaxy’s mass is attributed to unseen
dark matter.

NGC 300 spans nearly the same amount of sky as the
full moon and is visible with a small telescope toward the southern constellation of the
Sculptor.

The
featured image was captured in October from
Rio Hurtado,
Chile and
is a
composite of over 20 hours of exposure.