barred spiral galaxy

noun

, Astronomy.

1. a spiral galaxy whose center has the form of an extended bar.

barred spiral galaxy

/ bärd /

1. A spiral galaxy with a barlike bulge in the center, extending between the core and the spiral arms. About a third of spiral galaxies have this straight bar of stars, gas, and dust extending out from the nucleus. As with other spiral galaxies, barred spiral galaxies rotate, and new stars form from the dust and gas in their arms. Astronomers believe that some elliptical galaxies containing hints of a bar and spiral might once have been barred spiral galaxies.

Example Sentences

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, an international team, including astronomer Alexander de la Vega of the University of California, Riverside, has discovered the most distant barred spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way that has been observed to date.

From Science Daily

The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy: Officially “NGC-1365,″ this is a classic, gorgeous “barred” galaxy — a spiral with a central bar of stars that links two prominent, curving arms.

From Washington Post

We live in a barred spiral galaxy, or one that swirls around with waving arms and has a bar-shaped structure in the middle composed largely of stars.

From Salon

It is also a barred spiral galaxy, located in the Perseus constellation, and contains 10 times as many stars as our own galaxy.

From Salon

As a result, its classification was changed from unbarred spiral galaxy to barred spiral galaxy.

From Salon