                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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 October 5

                 NGC 5643: Nearby Spiral Galaxy from Hubble
     Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess et al.; Acknowledgement:
                                Mahdi Zamani

   Explanation: What's happening at the center of spiral galaxy NGC 5643?
   A swirling disk of stars and gas, NGC 5643's appearance is dominated by
   blue spiral arms and brown dust, as shown in the featured image taken
   by the Hubble Space Telescope. The core of this active galaxy glows
   brightly in radio waves and X-rays where twin jets have been found. An
   unusual central glow makes M106 one of the closest examples of the
   Seyfert class of galaxies, where vast amounts of glowing gas are
   thought to be falling into a central massive black hole. NGC 5643, is a
   relatively close 55 million light years away, spans about 100 thousand
   light years across, and can be seen with a small telescope towards the
   constellation of the Wolf (Lupus).

                        Tomorrow's picture: big mars
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.
