Sculptor Galaxy NGC 134
Explanation:
NGC 134 is probably not the best known spiral galaxy in the
constellation Sculptor.
Still, the tantalizing island universe is a clearly a
telescopic treasure in southern skies.
It shares a bright core, clumpy dust lanes, and loosely wrapped
spiral arms with spiky foreground stars of the Milky Way and the
more diminutive galaxy NGC 131 in
this
sharp cosmic vista.
From a distance of about 60 million light-years,
NGC 134 is seen tilted nearly edge-on.
It spans some 150,000 light-years, making it even larger than our
own Milky Way galaxy.
NGC 134's
warped disk and faint extensions give the
appearance of past gravitational interactions with neighboring
galaxies.
Like the much closer and brighter Sculptor
galaxy NGC 253, tendrils of dust
appear to rise from a galactic disk sprinkled with blue star clusters
and pinkish star forming regions.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
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NASA Official: Jay Norris.
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rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.