Credit & Copyright: 2MASS,
T. H. Jarrett, J. Carpenter, & R. Hurt
Explanation:
What does the universe nearby look like?
This plot shows over one and a half million of the brightest stars
and galaxies in the nearby universe detected by the
Two Micron All Sky Survey
(2MASS) in infrared
light.
The resulting image is an
incredible tapestry of stars and galaxies that
provides limits
on how the universe formed and evolved.
Across the center are stars that lie in the
plane of our own
Milky Way Galaxy.
Away from the Galactic plane, vast majority of the dots are
galaxies, color
coded to indicate distance, with blue dots representing the nearest
galaxies in the
2Mass survey,
and red dots indicating the most distant survey galaxies that lie at a
redshift near 0.1.
Named structures
are annotated.
Many galaxies are
gravitationally bound together to form
clusters,
which themselves are loosely bound into
superclusters, which in turn are sometimes seen to
align over even larger scale structures.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: galaxies - universe
Publications with words: galaxies - universe
See also:
- APOD: 2024 July 1 Á Time Spiral
- APOD: 2024 April 15 Á The Cigar Galaxy from Hubble and Webb
- APOD: 2024 March 20 Á The Eyes in Markarians Galaxy Chain
- APOD: 2023 December 31 Á Illustris: A Simulation of the Universe
- APOD: 2023 August 2 Á M82: Galaxy with a Supergalactic Wind
- APOD: 2023 July 5 Á A Map of the Observable Universe
- APOD: 2023 June 29 Á A Message from the Gravitational Universe