NGC 1672 – The Barred Spiral Galaxy in Dorado

NGC 1672 — Barred Spiral Galaxy in Dorado

About 60 million light-years away and some 75,000 light-years across, this is one of the more spectacularly structured galaxies in the nearby universe. Most striking is the long bar spanning the galaxy's center — roughly 20 kiloparsecs — from whose ends graceful, symmetric spiral arms unwind, giving the galaxy its textbook, captivating barred-spiral form.

In high-resolution images the arms are sprinkled with pink emission nebulae and young star clusters, showing the galaxy still in a vigorous star-forming phase. Its core is classified as a Seyfert 2 active nucleus, likely concealing a supermassive black hole ringed by fierce starburst regions — a galaxy at once luminous and dynamic. NGC 1672 is a key case for studying how bars funnel gas toward a galaxy's center, triggering star formation and driving galactic evolution.

For astrophotographers, that bold bar and those elegantly unfurling arms make it one of the most alluring targets in the sky.

Planewave CDK 17"
SBIG STXL 11002 with AOX
Paramount ME
Astrodon 50mm LRGB
Lx22, Rx21, Gx21, Bx17 1200s
Total integration time: 27h
Location: El Sauce, Chile
Software: PixInsight, Photoshop