NGC3359

A somewhat neglected image target, NGC 3359 is a barred spiral galaxy about 50 million light years distant located in Ursa Major. The central bar is relatively young at an estimated 0.5 billion years. The galaxy is very colourful with the bluish spiral arms incorporating young energetic blue stars and vast regions of intense star formation which appear as pinkish glows.

The LRGB image represents an integration time of about 16 hours.