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 January 8
NGC 1365: Majestic Island Universe
Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby, Leonardo Orazi
Explanation: Barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is truly a majestic island
universe some 200,000 light-years across. Located a mere 60 million
light-years away toward the chemical constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is
a dominant member of the well-studied Fornax Cluster of galaxies. This
impressively sharp color image shows the intense, reddish star forming
regions near the ends of central bar and along the spiral arms, with
details of the obscuring dust lanes cutting across the galaxy's bright
core. At the core lies a supermassive black hole. Astronomers think NGC
1365's prominent bar plays a crucial role in the galaxy's evolution,
drawing gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom and ultimately
feeding material into the central black hole.
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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