Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365 from Webb

A mere 56 million light-years distant toward the southern constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is an enormous barred spiral galaxy about 200,000 light-years in diameter. Thats twice the size of our own barred spiral Milky Way. This sharp image from the James Webb Space Telescopes Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveals stunning details of this magnificent spiral in infrared light. Webbs field of view stretches about 60,000 light-years across NGC 1365, exploring the galaxys core and bright newborn star clusters. The intricate network of dusty filaments and bubbles is created by young stars along spiral arms winding from the galaxys central bar. Astronomers suspect the gravity field of NGC 1365s bar plays a crucial role in the galaxys evolution, funneling gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom and ultimately feeding material into the active galaxys central, supermassive black hole.