Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2021 February 12

                           Spiral Galaxy NGC 1350
             Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby, Warren Keller

   Explanation: This gorgeous island universe lies about 85 million
   light-years distant in the southern constellation Fornax. Inhabited by
   young blue star clusters, the tightly wound spiral arms of NGC 1350
   seem to join in a circle around the galaxy's large, bright nucleus,
   giving it the appearance of a cosmic eye. In fact, NGC 1350 is about
   130,000 light-years across. That makes it as large or slightly larger
   than the Milky Way. For earth-based astronomers, NGC 1350 is seen on
   the outskirts of the Fornax cluster of galaxies, but its estimated
   distance suggests that it is not itself a cluster member. Of course,
   the bright spiky stars in the foreground of this telescopic field of
   view are members of our own spiral Milky Way galaxy.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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