Close-up: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 685 in Eridanus | Hubble

Close-up: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 685 in Eridanus | Hubble

A galaxy ablaze with young stars is the subject of this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope picture. This galaxy is called NGC 685 and is situated about 64 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus (The River). NGC 685 is classified as a barred spiral because its feathery spiral arms sprout from the ends of a bar of stars at the galaxy’s center. The Milky Way is also a barred spiral, but our galaxy is a little less than twice the size of NGC 685. 

Astronomers used Hubble to study NGC 685 for two observing programs that focus on star formation. It is no surprise that NGC 685 was chosen for these programs: numerous patches of young blue stars highlight the galaxy’s spiral arms. Many of these star clusters are cocooned in pink gas clouds that are called H II (pronounced ‘H-two’) regions. An H II region is a gas cloud that glows for a short time when particularly hot and massive stars are born. An especially eye-catching H II region peeks out at the bottom edge of the image. Despite the dozens of star-forming regions evident in this image, NGC 685 converts an amount of gas equivalent to less than half the mass of the Sun into stars each year. 

The Hubble data collected for the two observing programs will allow astronomers to catalogue 50,000 H II regions and 100,000 star clusters in nearby galaxies. By combining Hubble’s sensitive visible and ultraviolet observations with infrared data from the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope and radio data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, researchers will peer into the depths of dusty stellar nurseries and illuminate the stars forming there.

Image Description: A spiral galaxy seen directly on. It glows strongly at its center and has a short horizontal bar. Two spiral arms extend from this bar, but they are broad and irregularly-shaped. They are filled with tiny blue dots—stars—and glowing pink clouds—star-forming nebulae. The arms break apart into many strands at the edge of the disc. Beyond this is a dark background.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee, F. Belfiore

Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: June 2, 2025

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