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. 2021 August 13 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. A Perfect Spiral Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]Hubble, [6]HLA; Processing: [7]Mehmet Hakan Ozsarac Explanation: If not perfect then this [8]spiral galaxy is at least one of the most photogenic. An [9]island universe of about 100 billion stars, 32 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces, [10]M74 presents a gorgeous [11]face-on view. Classified as [12]an Sc galaxy, the [13]grand design of M74's graceful spiral arms are traced by bright [14]blue star clusters and dark [15]cosmic dust lanes. [16]This sharp composite was constructed from image data recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Spanning about 30,000 light-years across the face of M74, it includes exposures recording emission from hydrogen atoms, highlighting the reddish glow of the galaxy's large star-forming regions. With a lower surface brightness than most galaxies in the [17]Messier catalog, M74 is sometimes known as the [18]Phantom Galaxy. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend __________________________________________________________________ [19]< | [20]Archive | [21]Submissions | [22]Index | [23]Search | [24]Calendar | [25]RSS | [26]Education | [27]About APOD | [28]Discuss | [29]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [30]Robert Nemiroff ([31]MTU) & [32]Jerry Bonnell ([33]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [34]Specific rights apply. [35]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [36]ASD at [37]NASA / [38]GSFC & [39]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2108/m74_APOD.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. http://www.esa.int/ 5. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html 6. https://hla.stsci.edu/ 7. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mhozsarac/ 8. http://www.messier.seds.org/spir.html 9. http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March02/Gordon/Gordon2.html 10. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/messier-74 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010427.html 12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_sequence 13. http://burro.cwru.edu/Academics/Astr222/Galaxies/Spiral/spiral.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap990402.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071129.html 16. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mhozsarac/51348796907/ 17. https://www.nasa.gov/subject/14467/hubbles-messier-catalog/ 18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_74 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210812.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 23. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 28. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210813 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210814.html 30. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 31. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 32. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 33. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 35. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 36. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 37. https://www.nasa.gov/ 38. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 39. http://www.mtu.edu/