NGC 1300

A grand barred spiral in Eridanus

NGC 1300 is about 69 million light-years away, following NASA’s Hubble and Webb overview. The distance marker places it beyond the Local Group along our illustrative route.

The moving dashes represent light travelling between galaxies. Their speed and the spacing of the galaxy icons are illustrative.

≈ 110,000 light-years across.

The comparison uses the rounded 110,000-light-year diameter in NASA’s Space Math material. Stellar boundaries are diffuse and published extents depend on distance estimates and measurement conventions; this is a visual reference, not a sharp edge.

The overview compares this galaxy with a rounded Milky Way reference of 100,000 light-years on one linear scale. These luminous extents do not represent sharp physical edges.

Arms that begin at the bar ends

Unlike an unbarred spiral, NGC 1300 has arms extending from the ends of a long stellar bar. Dust lanes thread the bar, and a smaller spiral structure sits around the nucleus. The model highlights the bar within the larger disk.

Select Bar to highlight the central stellar bar within the disk. Proportions and motion are illustrative.

A spiral beyond the Local Group

Seen toward Eridanus, NGC 1300 provides a clear external view of a barred spiral. Comparing it with the Milky Way helps illustrate a shared structural idea without implying that the two galaxies have identical shapes.