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Credit & Copyright: Mark Hanson
and
Mike Selby
Explanation:
Gorgeous
spiral galaxy NGC 3521
is a mere 35 million light-years away,
toward the northern
springtime
constellation Leo.
Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is
easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by
amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies,
like M66 and M65.
It's hard to overlook in
this colorful
cosmic portrait though.
Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports
characteristic
patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions,
and
clusters of young, blue stars.
This deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in fainter,
gigantic, bubble-like shells.
The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn
from satellite galaxies that have
undergone
mergers
with NGC 3521 in the distant past.
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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 - tidal stream
Publications with words: spiral galaxy - tidal stream
See also: