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.

                                2024 June 13
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                             Messier 66 Close Up
              Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]Hubble Heritage
                   (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration.
            Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin and Robert Gendler

   Explanation: Big, beautiful [6]spiral galaxy Messier 66 lies a mere 35
   million light-years away. The [7]gorgeous island universe is about 100
   thousand light-years across, similar in size to the Milky Way. This
   [8]Hubble Space Telescope close-up view spans a region about 30,000
   light-years wide around the galactic core. It shows the galaxy's disk
   dramatically inclined to our line-of-sight. Surrounding its bright
   core, the likely home of a supermassive black hole, obscuring dust
   lanes and young, blue star clusters sweep [9]along spiral arms dotted
   with the tell-tale glow of pinkish star forming regions. Messier 66,
   also known as NGC 3627, is the brightest of the three galaxies in the
   gravitationally interacting [10]Leo Triplet.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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    Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([25]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [26]Specific rights apply.
               [27]NASA Web Privacy, [28]Accessibility Notices
                A service of: [29]ASD at [30]NASA / [31]GSFC,
                         [32]NASA Science Activation
                           & [33]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/heic1006a_M66.jpg
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. https://www.esa.int/
   5. https://hubblesite.org/images/hubble-heritage
   6. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/messier-66
   7. https://esahubble.org/images/heic1006a/
   8. https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-celebrates-the-15th-anniversary-of-servicing-mission-4/
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230829.html
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240321.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240612.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  20. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=240613
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240514.html
  22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  28. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  29. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  32. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  33. http://www.mtu.edu/