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 24

                        Spiral Galaxy M66 from Hubble
    Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, Janice Lee; Processing & Copyright:
                       Leo Shatz; Text: Karen Masters

   Explanation: It's always nice to get a new view of an old friend. This
   stunning Hubble Space Telescope image of nearby spiral galaxy M66 is
   just that. A spiral galaxy with a small central bar, M66 is a member of
   the Leo Galaxy Triplet, a group of three galaxies about 30 million
   light years from us. The Leo Triplet is a popular target for relatively
   small telescopes, in part because M66 and its galactic companions M65
   and NGC 3628 all appear separated by about the angular width of a full
   moon. The featured image of M66 was taken by Hubble to help investigate
   the connection between star formation and molecular gas clouds. Clearly
   visible are bright blue stars, pink ionized hydrogen clouds --
   sprinkled all along the outer spiral arms, and dark dust lanes in which
   more star formation could be hiding.

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