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.

                               2019 December 1

                      Starburst Galaxy M94 from Hubble
                 Image Credit & Copyright: ESA/Hubble & NASA

   Explanation: Why does this galaxy have a ring of bright blue stars?
   Beautiful island universe Messier 94 lies a mere 15 million light-years
   distant in the northern constellation of the Hunting Dogs (Canes
   Venatici). A popular target for Earth-based astronomers, the face-on
   spiral galaxy is about 30,000 light-years across, with spiral arms
   sweeping through the outskirts of its broad disk. But this Hubble Space
   Telescope field of view spans about 7,000 light-years across M94's
   central region. The featured close-up highlights the galaxy's compact,
   bright nucleus, prominent inner dust lanes, and the remarkable bluish
   ring of young massive stars. The ring stars are all likely less than 10
   million years old, indicating that M94 is a starburst galaxy that is
   experiencing an epoch of rapid star formation. The circular ripple of
   blue stars is likely a wave propagating outward, having been triggered
   by the gravity and rotation of a oval matter distributions. Because M94
   is relatively nearby, astronomers can better explore details of its
   starburst ring.

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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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