APOD
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.
Spiral Galaxy M96 from Hubble
Explanation: Dust lanes seem to swirl around the core of Messier 96 in this colorful, detailed portrait of the center of a beautiful island universe . Of course M96 is a spiral galaxy , and counting the faint arms extending beyond the brighter central region , it spans 100 thousand light-years or so, making it about the size of our own Milky Way . M96, also known as NGC 3368 , is known to be about 35 million light-years distant and a dominant member of the Leo I galaxy group . The featured image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope . The reason for M96 's asymmetry is unclear -- it could have arisen from gravitational interactions with other Leo I group galaxies , but the lack of an intra-group diffuse glow seems to indicate few recent interactions . Galaxies far in the background can be found by examining the edges of the picture.
Explore your Universe: Random APOD Generator
| Date | September 21, 2015 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit: ESA / Hubble & NASA and the LEGUS Team ; Acknowledgement: R. Gendler |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |