This barred spiral has a dense inner ring
that surrounds a bright, central core. The ring is actually two
spiral arms that are closed in on each other. In contrast to its
well-defined center, this galaxy's arms are patchy, or
flocculent. It is inclined about 43 degrees away from an edge-on
orientation, and has a diameter of 135,000 light-years. NGC 1398
is 65 million light-years away in the Fornax constellation, and
is part of the Fornax cluster of galaxies.
