This galaxy NGC 1097 is located 45 million light-years away from Earth.

It has been observed with the new #VLT instrument #ERIS, showing the gaseous and dusty ring almost symmetrically around the centre of the #galaxy.

The dark clouds represent interstellar dust that prevents us from seeing the stars behind them whereas the brighter spots are areas of rapid #star formation.

And we know that virtually all these stars are surrounded by #exoplanetary systems.

#astronomy https://www.eso.org/public/images/ann22015a/