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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.
Spiral Galaxy M66 from Hubble
Explanation: It's always nice to get a new view of an old friend. This stunning Hubble Space Telescope image of nearby spiral galaxy M66 is just that. A spiral galaxy with a small central bar, M66 is a member of the Leo Galaxy Triplet , a group of three galaxies about 30 million light years from us. The Leo Triplet is a popular target for relatively small telescopes , in part because M66 and its galactic companions M65 and NGC 3628 all appear separated by about the angular width of a full moon . The featured image of M66 was taken by Hubble to help investigate the connection between star formation and molecular gas clouds . Clearly visible are bright blue stars , pink ionized hydrogen clouds -- sprinkled all along the outer spiral arms, and dark dust lane s in which more star formation could be hiding .
| Date | February 24, 2021 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit: NASA , ESA , Hubble , Janice Lee ; Processing & Copyright: Leo Shatz ; Text: Karen Masters |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |