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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.
M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center
Explanation: What's happening in the center of nearby spiral galaxy M77? The face-on galaxy lies a mere 47 million light-years away toward the constellation of the Sea Monster ( Cetus ). At that estimated distance, this gorgeous island universe is about 100 thousand light-years across. Also known as NGC 1068 , its compact and very bright core is well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of supermassive black holes in active Seyfert galaxies . M77 and its active core glows bright at x-ray , ultraviolet , visible , infrared , and radio wavelengths. The featured sharp image of M77 was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and is dominated by the (visible) red light emitted by hydrogen . The image shows details of the spiral's winding spiral arms as traced by obscuring dust clouds , and red-tinted star forming regions close in to the galaxy's luminous core.
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| Date | March 17, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit: Hubble , NASA , ESA ; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |