NGC 5676 is an unbarred

spiral galaxy Spiral galaxies form a galaxy morphological classification, class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae''

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

Boötes Boötes ( ) is a constellation in the northern sky, located between 0° and +60° declination, and 13 and 16 hours of right ascension on the celestial sphere. The name comes from , which comes from 'herder, herdsman' or 'plowman' (literally, 'o ...

Disk

This spiral galaxy is notably asymmetric. The

spiral arm Spiral arms are a defining feature of spiral galaxies. They manifest as spiral-shaped regions of enhanced brightness within the galactic disc. Typically, spiral galaxies exhibit two or more spiral arms. The collective configuration of these arms i ...

s on the south side of the galaxy are chaotic in appearance, whereas the spiral arms on the north side of the galaxy are very well-defined. Also, the spiral arms on the south side of the disk extend twice as far from the galaxy's

nucleus Nucleus (: nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucleu ...

as the spiral arms on the north side. Because of the fragmentary appearance of some of the spiral arms, this galaxy is classified as a flocculent galaxy.

Star formation

The north part of the disk also contains what appears to be a very intense region of

star formation Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space—sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions"—Jeans instability, collapse and form stars. As a branch of astronomy, sta ...

. Unusually, the star formation within this region appears to be more intense than the star formation in the galaxy's nucleus, and it is the brightest

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

source within the disk.

References

External links

www.freewebs.com/

Image NGC 5676
* {{Boötes NGC 5676 Boötes 5676 09366 51978