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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.
Elliptical Galaxy M87
Explanation: Elliptical galaxy M87 is a type of galaxy that looks much different than our own Milky Way Galaxy . Even for an elliptical galaxy , though, M87 is peculiar. M87 is much bigger than an average galaxy, appears near the center of a whole cluster of galaxies known as the Virgo Cluster , and shows an unusually high number of globular clusters. These globular clusters are visible as faint spots surrounding the bright center of M87 . In general, elliptical galaxies contain similar numbers of stars as spiral galaxies , but are ellipsoidal in shape (spirals are mostly flat), have no spiral structure, and little gas and dust . The above image of M87 was taken recently by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on top of the dormant volcano Mauna Kea in Hawaii , USA .
News: APOD turns nine years old today!
| Date | June 16, 2004 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit & Copyright: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope , J.-C. Cuillandre ( CFHT ), Coelum |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |