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Credit & Copyright: Markus Horn
Explanation:
In
northern hemisphere spring,
bright star Regulus is easy to spot above the eastern horizon.
The alpha star of the constellation Leo, Regulus is the spiky star
centered in this
telescopic field of view.
A mere 79 light-years distant,
Regulus
is a
hot,
rapidly spinning star
that is known to be part of a multiple star system.
Not quite lost in the glare, the fuzzy patch just below Regulus
is diffuse starlight from small galaxy Leo I.
Leo I is a
dwarf spheroidal galaxy,
a member of the
Local Group
of galaxies dominated by our
Milky Way Galaxy
and the Andromeda Galaxy
(M31).
About 800 thousand light-years away, Leo I
is thought to be the most distant of the
known small satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way.
But
dwarf galaxy Leo I
has shown
evidence
of a supermassive black hole
at its center, comparable in mass to the black hole at the center
of the Milky Way.
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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: regulus - dwarf galaxy
Publications with words: regulus - dwarf galaxy
See also: