The Glowing Heart of Galaxy NGC 1097

 Take a moment to admire this stunning infrared image captured by the Very Large Telescope, which has an impressive 8.2-meter mirror. At the heart of the photo lies a bright inner ring of stars encircling the core of the galaxy NGC 1097. This fascinating galaxy sits about 45 million light-years away from us in the constellation Fornax.

The darker regions visible in the image show clouds of gas and cosmic dust spiraling toward the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center, slowly feeding its immense power.