﻿ 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. 2020 February 19 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. UGC 12591: The Fastest Rotating Galaxy Known Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]Hubble; Processing & Copyright: [6]Leo Shatz Explanation: Why does this galaxy spin so fast? To start, even identifying which type of galaxy [7]UGC 12591 is difficult -- featured on the lower left, it has dark dust lanes like a spiral galaxy but a large diffuse bulge of stars like a [8]lenticular. [9]Surprisingly observations show that [10]UGC 12591 spins at about 480 km/sec, almost twice as fast as our [11]Milky Way, and the fastest rotation rate yet measured. The mass needed to hold together a galaxy spinning this fast is several times the mass of our [12]Milky Way Galaxy. Progenitor scenarios for [13]UGC 12591 include [14]slow growth by accreting ambient matter, or rapid growth through a recent [15]galaxy collision or [16]collisions -- future observations may tell. The light we see today from UGC 12591 left about [17]400 million years ago, when [18]trees were first developing on [19]Earth. Tomorrow's picture: open space __________________________________________________________________ [20]< | [21]Archive | [22]Submissions | [23]Index | [24]Search | [25]Calendar | [26]RSS | [27]Education | [28]About APOD | [29]Discuss | [30]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [31]Robert Nemiroff ([32]MTU) & [33]Jerry Bonnell ([34]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [35]Specific rights apply. [36]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [37]ASD at [38]NASA / [39]GSFC & [40]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2002/UGC12951_HubbleShatz_2019.jpg 3. http://www.nasa.gov/ 4. http://www.esa.int/ 5. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/index.html 6. https://www.astrobin.com/users/spinlock/ 7. http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1709a/ 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020408.html 9. http://www.dvsjr.com/Home-alone-dog-destroys-toilet-paper.jpg 10. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013hst..prop13370G/abstract 11. https://www.nasa.gov/jpl/charting-the-milky-way-from-the-inside-out 12. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/galaxy-location.html 13. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1986ApJ...301L...7G/abstract 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120717.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150419.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130514.html 17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devonian 18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100713.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200218.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 29. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200219 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200220.html 31. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 33. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 34. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 36. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 37. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 38. https://www.nasa.gov/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 40. http://www.mtu.edu/