Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2025 March 6
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                         Starburst Galaxy Messier 94
                   Image Credit: [3]ESA/Hubble and [4]NASA

   Explanation: Beautiful island universe [5]Messier 94 lies a mere 15
   million light-years distant in the northern constellation of the
   hunting dogs, [6]Canes Venatici. A popular target for earth-based
   astronomers, the face-on spiral galaxy is about 30,000 light-years
   across, with spiral arms sweeping through the [7]outskirts of its broad
   disk. But this [8]Hubble Space Telescope field of view spans about
   7,000 light-years or so across M94's central region. The sharp close-up
   examines the galaxy's compact, bright nucleus and prominent inner dust
   lanes, surrounded by a remarkable bluish ring of young, massive stars.
   The massive stars in the ring [9]appear to be less than about 10
   million years old, indicating the galaxy experienced a corresponding
   well-defined era of rapid star formation. As a result, while the small,
   bright nucleus is typical of the [10]Seyfert class of active galaxies,
   M94 is also known as a [11]starburst galaxy. Because M94 is relatively
   nearby, astronomers can explore [12]in detail reasons for the galaxy's
   burst of star formation.

                     Today's Coverage: [13]Moon Landing
                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
     __________________________________________________________________

      [14]< | [15]Archive | [16]Submissions | [17]Index | [18]Search |
   [19]Calendar | [20]RSS | [21]Education | [22]About APOD | [23]Discuss |
                                    [24]>
     __________________________________________________________________

    Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([28]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [29]Specific rights apply.
              [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC,
                         [34]NASA Science Activation
                           & [35]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2503/M94_hst1542a_1280.jpg
   3. http://www.spacetelescope.org/
   4. http://www.nasa.gov/
   5. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-94/
   6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canes_Venatici
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100114.html
   8. http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1542a
   9. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_lookback.html
  10. http://spider.seds.org/spider/ScholarX/seyferts.html
  11. http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/starburst.html
  12. http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0011101
  13. https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-intuitive-machines-second-private-moon-landing/
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250305.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250306
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250307.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  34. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  35. http://www.mtu.edu/