Spiral Galaxy M77

M77 (also known as NGC 1068) is a barred spiral galaxy about 60 million light-years away. It is an active galaxy with an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN), which is obscured from view by astronomical dust at visible wavelengths.

A peculiar characteristic of this galaxy is a startling absence of hot gas being given off by its main disk. There should be considerable hot gas in 1068, especially because it has a central supermassive black hole with extremely high energies released around it. In addition, 1068 has starburst regions, where enormous bubbles of hot gas are blown.