Messier 66 Close Up
Explanation:
Big, beautiful
spiral galaxy Messier 66
lies a mere
35 million light-years away.
The gorgeous island universe is
about 100 thousand light-years across, similar in size to the Milky Way.
This reprocessed
Hubble Space
Telescope
close-up view spans a region about 30,000
light-years wide around the galactic core.
It shows the galaxy's disk dramatically inclined to our line-of-sight.
Surrounding its bright core, the likely home of a supermassive black hole,
obscuring dust lanes and young, blue star clusters sweep
along spiral arms
dotted with the tell-tale glow of pinksh star forming regions.
Messier 66, also known as NGC 3627, is the brightest of the three
galaxies in the gravitationaly interacting
Leo Triplet.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
