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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.
NGC 5643: Nearby Spiral Galaxy from Hubble
Explanation: What's happening at the center of spiral galaxy NGC 5643? A swirling disk of stars and gas, NGC 5643 's appearance is dominated by blue spiral arms and brown dust , as shown in the featured image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope . The core of this active galaxy glows brightly in radio waves and X-rays where twin jets have been found. An unusual central glow makes NGC 5643 one of the closest examples of the Seyfert class of galaxies , where vast amounts of glowing gas are thought to be falling into a central massive black hole . NGC 5643, is a relatively close 55 million light years away, spans about 100 thousand light years across, and can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Wolf ( Lupus ).
| Date | October 5, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit: ESA / Hubble & NASA , A. Riess et al.; Acknowledgement: Mahdi Zamani |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |