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.

                              2020 December 24

                            Portrait of NGC 1055
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh

   Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 1055 is a dominant member
   of a small galaxy group a mere 60 million light-years away toward the
   aquatically intimidating constellation Cetus. Seen edge-on, the island
   universe spans over 100,000 light-years, a little larger than our own
   Milky Way galaxy. The colorful, spiky stars decorating this cosmic
   portrait of NGC 1055 are in the foreground, well within the Milky Way.
   But the telltale pinkish star forming regions are scattered through
   winding dust lanes along the distant galaxy's thin disk. With a
   smattering of even more distant background galaxies, the deep image
   also reveals a boxy halo that extends far above and below the central
   bluge and disk of NGC 1055. The halo itself is laced with faint, narrow
   structures, and could represent the mixed and spread out debris from a
   satellite galaxy disrupted by the larger spiral some 10 billion years
   ago.

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