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Credit & Copyright: Eric Coles and Mel Helm
Explanation:
Is this galaxy trapped in a web of dust?
No -- it is far in the background.
However, spiky stars and spooky shapes are abound in
this deep cosmic skyscape.
Its well-composed field of view covers
about a Full Moon on the
sky toward the constellation Pegasus.
Of course the brighter stars show
diffraction spikes, the commonly
seen effect of internal
supports
in reflecting telescopes, and lie
well within our own
Milky Way galaxy.
The faint but pervasive clouds of interstellar dust
ride above the galactic plane and dimly reflect the
Milky Way's
combined starlight.
Known as high latitude cirrus or integrated flux nebulae they are
associated with molecular clouds.
In this case, the diffuse cloud cataloged as
MBM 54,
less than a thousand light-years distant, fills the scene.
The galaxy seemingly tangled in the dust is the striking spiral galaxy NGC 7497
some 60 million light-years away.
Seen almost edge-on
near the center of the field,
NGC 7497's own spiral arms and dust lanes echo the colors of the
Milky Way's stars and dust.
Astrophysicists:
Browse 1,100+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: spiral galaxy
Publications with words: spiral galaxy
See also: