HAWK-I infrared image of the spectacular barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365

This striking new image, taken with the powerful HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO's Very Large Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile, shows NGC 1365. This beautiful barred spiral galaxy is part of the Fornax cluster of galaxies, and lies about 60 million light-years from Earth. The picture was created from images taken through Y, J, H and K filters and the exposure times were 4, 4, 7 and 12 minutes respectively.