APOD Galaxy Pic

[wookie]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html) Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2007 March 15
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0703/NGC2442_ssroGoldman720.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0703/NGC2442_ssroGoldman.jpg)
NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans
Credit & Copyright: SSRO-South (http://www.starshadows.com/aboutus/) (D.Goldman, J.Harvey, R.Gilbert, D.Verschatse) - PROMPT (D.Reichart) Explanation: Distorted galaxy (http://burro.cwru.edu/JavaLab/GalCrashWeb/main.html) NGC 2442 can be found in the southern constellation of the flying fish (http://oceanlink.island.net/oinfo/biodiversity/flyingfish/flyingfish.html), (Piscis) Volans (http://www.dibonsmith.com/vol_con.htm). Located about 50 million light-years away, the galaxy's two spiral arms (http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=199) extending from a pronounced central bar give it an ominous (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ides_of_March) hook-shaped appearance. This striking color image (http://www.starshadows.com/gallery/display.cfm?imgID=132) also shows obscuring dust lanes, young blue star clusters and reddish star forming (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061123.html) regions surrounding a core of yellowish light from an older population of stars. But the star forming regions seem more concentrated along the drawn-out northern (top) spiral arm. The distorted structure is likely the result of a close encounter (http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9701015) with a smaller galaxy located just outside this telescopic field of view. The picture spans (http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/scale.html) about 1/6 of a degree, or 150,000 light years at the estimated distance of NGC 2442 (http://www.aao.gov.au/images/captions/aat098.html).

Tomorrow's picture: Moon grazing (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070316.html)
< (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070314.html) | Archive (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html) | Index (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html) | Search (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search) | Calendar (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html) | Glossary (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/glossary.html) | Education (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html) | About APOD (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html) | Discuss (http://bb.nightskylive.net/asterisk/viewforum.php?f=9) | > (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070316.html) Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/rjn.html) (MTU (http://www.phy.mtu.edu/)) & Jerry Bonnell (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html) (USRA (http://www.usra.edu/))
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply).
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& Michigan Tech. U. (http://www.mtu.edu/)

[wookie]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html) Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2007 March 14
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0703/m95_cfht.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0703/m95_cfht_big.jpg)
Barred Spiral Galaxy M95
Credit & Copyright (http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/HawaiianStarlight/CFHT_WWW_Copyright.html): Jean-Charles Cuillandre (jcc%20at%20cfht%20dot%20hawaii%20dot%20edu) (CFHT), Hawaiian Starlight (http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/HawaiianStarlight/English/HawaiianStarlight_Description.html), CFHT (http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/) Explanation: Why do some spiral galaxies have a ring around the center? First and foremost, M95 (http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m095.html) is one of the closer examples of a big and beautiful barred spiral galaxy (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/spiral_galaxies.html). Visible in the above recent image (http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/HawaiianStarlight/AIOM/English/CFHT-Coelum-AIOM-Mar2007.html) from the CFHT telescope (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000905.html) in Hawaii (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii), USA (https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html), are sprawling spiral arms (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040125.html) delineate by open clusters (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060109.html) of bright blue stars, lanes of dark dust (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980116.html), the diffuse glow of billions of faint stars, and a short bar across the galaxy center. What intrigues many astronomers, however, is the circumnuclear ring (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051022.html) around the galaxy center visible just outside the central bar. Recent images by the Chandra X-ray Observatory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_X-ray_Observatory) have shown that X-ray light (http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/xrays.html) surrounding the ring is likely emission from recent supernova (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/snr.html)s. Although the long term stability of the ring remains a topic of research (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2006ApJ...647.1030S), recent observations indicate its present brightness is at least enhanced by transient bursts of star formation. M95 (http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/m95.html), also known as NGC 3351, spans about 50,000 light-years (http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question19.html) and can be seen with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Lion (Leo (http://www.astronomical.org/portal/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=46)).

Tomorrow's picture: Ides of March (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070315.html)
< (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070313.html) | Archive (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html) | Index (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html) | Search (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search) | Calendar (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html) | Glossary (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/glossary.html) | Education (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html) | About APOD (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html) | Discuss (http://bb.nightskylive.net/asterisk/viewforum.php?f=9) | > (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070315.html) Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/rjn.html) (MTU (http://www.phy.mtu.edu/)) & Jerry Bonnell (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html) (USRA (http://www.usra.edu/))
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply).
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices (http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html)
A service of: ASD (http://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/) at NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/) / GSFC (http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/)
& Michigan Tech. U. (http://www.mtu.edu/)