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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 1566: The Spanish Dancer Spiral Galaxy
Explanation: An island universe of billions of stars, NGC 1566 lies about 60 million light-years away in the southern constellation Dorado . Popularly known as the Spanish Dancer galaxy, it's seen face-on from our Milky Way perspective . A gorgeous grand design spiral, this galaxy's two graceful spiral arms span over 100,000 light-years, traced by bright blue star clusters , pinkish starforming regions, and swirling cosmic dust lanes. NGC 1566's flaring center makes the spiral one of the closest and brightest Seyfert galaxies . It likely houses a central supermassive black hole wreaking havoc on surrounding stars, gas, and dust . In this sharp southern galaxy portrait, the spiky stars lie well within the Milky Way.
| Date | January 14, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit & Copyright: Mark Hanson and Mike Selby |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |