NGC 6744: Extragalactic Close Up
Explanation:
Beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 6744 is nearly 175,000 light-years
across.
That's larger than
the Milky Way.
It lies some 30 million light-years distant in the southern
constellation Pavo, with its galactic disk tilted towards our line of sight.
This
Hubble close-up
of the nearby island universe spans about
24,000 light-years or so across NGC 6744's central region.
The Hubble view combines visible light and ultraviolet image data.
The giant galaxy's
yellowish core is dominated by the visible light from old, cool stars.
Beyond the core are star-forming regions and
young star clusters scattered along the inner spiral arms.
NGC 6744's young star clusters are bright at ultraviolet wavelengths,
shown in blue and magenta hues.
Spiky stars
scattered around the frame are foreground stars and well
within our own Milky Way.
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.
