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Credit & Copyright: NASA,
Hubble Legacy Archive,
Kitt Peak National
Observatory;
Amateur Data & Processing Copyright: Robert Gendler
Explanation:
Close to the Great Bear
(Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the
Hunting Dogs
(Canes Venatici), this celestial wonder was
discovered
in 1781 by the
metric
French astronomer
Pierre Mechain.
Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague
Charles Messier as
M106.
Modern deep telescopic views reveal it to be an
island universe -
a spiral galaxy around 30 thousand light-years across located
only about 21 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way.
Along with a bright central core,
this
stunning galaxy portrait,
a composite of image data from amateur and professional telescopes,
highlights youthful blue star clusters and reddish stellar nurseries
tracing the galaxy's spiral arms.
It also shows off remarkable reddish
jets of
glowing hydrogen gas.
In addition to small companion galaxy NGC 4248 at bottom right,
background galaxies can be found scattered throughout the frame.
M106, also known as NGC 4258, is a nearby example of the
Seyfert class of active galaxies, seen
across the spectrum
from radio to X-rays.
Active galaxies are powered by matter falling into a massive
central
black hole.
Amateur Data & Processing Copyright: Robert Gendler
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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: M 106 - spiral galaxy
Publications with words: M 106 - spiral galaxy
See also: