Most observers would admit that, out of all galaxies, barred spirals make the best targets for amateur telescopes. That said, it’s a pity the best example of a barred spiral — NGC 1365 — languishes in the nearly invisible constellation Fornax the Furnace.
As galaxies go, NGC 1365 is bright: magnitude 9.4. It’s also not tiny, measuring 8.9′ by 6.5′. It lies some 60 million light-years away and is part of the Fornax Cluster of galaxies, the second-richest nearby grouping