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Credit & Copyright: Roberto Marinoni
Explanation:
A mere 46 million light-years distant, spiral galaxy NGC 2841
can be found in planet Earth's
night
sky
toward the northern constellation of
Ursa Major.
This
sharp image centered
on the gorgeous
island universe
also captures spiky foreground Milky Way stars
and more distant background galaxies within the same
telescopic field of view.
It shows off the bright nucleus of NGC 2841, along with its
inclined galactic disk, and faint outer regions.
Dust lanes, small star-forming regions, and young star clusters
are embedded in the galaxy's patchy, tightly
wound
spiral arms.
In contrast, many other spirals
exhibit broader, sweeping arms with large star-forming regions.
NGC
2841 has
a diameter of over 150,000 light-years, making it even larger than
our own Milky Way.
X-ray images
suggest that extreme outflows from giant stars and stellar explosions create
plumes of hot gas extending into a halo around NGC 2841.
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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: spiral galaxy
Publications with words: spiral galaxy
See also: