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Credit & Copyright: Ian Gorenstein
Explanation:
Big, beautiful spiral galaxy
NGC 7331
is often touted as an analog to our own
Milky Way.
About 50 million light-years distant in the northern constellation
Pegasus,
NGC 7331 was recognized early on as
a spiral nebula and is actually one of the brighter
galaxies
not included in Charles Messier's
famous
18th century catalog.
Since the galaxy's disk
is inclined to our line-of-sight, long
telescopic exposures often result in images that evokes a strong
sense of depth.
The effect is further enhanced
in this sharp image
by galaxies that lie beyond the gorgeous
island
universe.
The most prominent background galaxies are about one tenth the
apparent size
of NGC 7331 and so lie roughly ten times farther away.
Their close alignment on the sky with NGC 7331
occurs just by chance.
Lingering above
the plane of the Milky Way, this striking visual grouping of galaxies is
known to some as the
Deer Lick Group.
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Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: spiral galaxy
Publications with words: spiral galaxy
See also: