M1 image More About M1 Nice Color Picture . ... M16 image More About M16 HST image . ... M31 image More About M31 Nice Color Picture . ... M42 image ; M43 image More About M42/43 Nice Color CCD Picture . M51 image More About M51 Color Image of M51 M51 Supernova . M57 image More About M57 Nice Color CCD Picture Very Deep M57 Image . ... M81 image More About M81 M81 Supernova Ultraviolet Image of M81 More about Ultraviolet Imaging . M82 image More About M82 M82 False Color M82 True Color . ...

... Bad Astronomy . ... Bitesize Astronomy . ... Last week's Snack talked about how black holes can affect the environment around them in such a way as to be very bright . ... It's a common misconception that black holes always have matter swirling into them. ... As this matter gets closer and closer to the black hole it piles up and a large, fairly flat disk forms. This is called the accretion disk , because matter from this disk accretes (that is, falls in) on the black hole. ... 2008 Phil Plait. ...

... STScI-PRC94-49c EMBARGOED UNTIL: 2:00 P.M. EDT Wednesday, October 26, 1994 THE SPIRAL GALAXY M100 An image of the grand design of spiral galaxy M100 obtained with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope resolves individual stars within the majestic spiral arms. ... This makes space telescope invaluable for identifying a rare class of pulsating stars, called Cepheid Variable stars embedded within M100's spiral arms. ... It is a rotating system of gas and stars, similar to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. ...

... Planetary Nebula NGC 7027 in Infrared . ... NGC 7027 is one of the smallest known planetary nebulae. Even so, NGC 7027 is 14,000 times larger than the Earth-Sun distance. ... A Baby Galaxy . ... Starbirth in NGC 1808 . ... The center of galaxy NGC 1808 is bursting with new stars, but why? Being a barred spiral galaxy makes NGC 1808 somewhat similar to our own Milky Way Galaxy. But the disk of NGC 1808 (inset) is quite warped, and its center is unusually bright and blue. ...

... Editor's choices for the most educational Astronomy Pictures of the Day about spiral galaxies: . APOD: 2003 March 10 - M101: The Pinwheel Galaxy . Explanation: Why do many galaxies appear as spirals ? ... One result is that M101 , also called the Pinwheel Galaxy , has several extremely bright star-forming regions (called HII regions ) spread across its spiral arms. ... APOD: 2003 April 13 - NGC 1365: A Nearby Barred Spiral Galaxy . ... NGC 1365 is a member of the Fornax Cluster of Galaxies . ...