Each week, discover a new spectacular image obtained at CFHT .
Galaxies can have various shapes , from elliptical to spiral.
Among the great family of spiral galaxies, about two third have a central stellar bar. Bars are complex systems and thanks to new observations and sophisticated numerical models developed in the last 20 years, considerable progress has been made in understanding their morphology, dynamics, formation and evolution. Bars are, of course, principally formed from stars but some of them have also large amounts of interstellar dust, neutral hydrogen, ionized and cold molecular gas. Our own Galaxy, the Milky Way, has a small bar in its center. Bars affect galaxy evolution.