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Credit & Copyright: R. Jay
GaBany
(Cosmotography.com)
Explanation:
Spiral galaxy NGC 2903 is only some 20 million light-years distant
in the constellation Leo.
One of the brighter galaxies visible from the
northern hemisphere, it is surprisingly
missing from
Charles Messier's famous catalog of celestial
sights.
This impressively
sharp color image shows off the
galaxy's beautiful blue spiral arms.
Included in the ground-based telescopic view are intriguing
details of NGC 2903's central
regions -- a remarkable mix
of old and young star clusters with immense dust and gas clouds.
In fact,
NGC 2903 exhibits an exceptional rate of star formation
activity near its center, also bright in radio,
infrared, ultraviolet, and x-ray
bands.
Just a little smaller than our own Milky Way,
NGC 2903 is about 80,000 light-years across.
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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: spiral galaxy
Publications with words: spiral galaxy
See also:
- APOD: 2025 September 4 Á NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge
- APOD: 2025 August 28 Á Galaxies, Stars, and Dust
- APOD: 2025 August 22 Á A Tale of Two Nebulae
- APOD: 2025 August 19 Á Giant Galaxies in Pavo
- APOD: 2025 August 18 Á NGC 1309: A Useful Spiral Galaxy
- APOD: 2025 July 4 Á NGC 6946 and NGC 6939
- APOD: 2025 June 30 Á NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy