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. 2022 December 22 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. NGC 1365: Majestic Island Universe Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Martin Pugh Explanation: Barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is truly a majestic [5]island universe some 200,000 light-years across. Located a mere 60 million light-years away toward the faint but heated constellation [6]Fornax, NGC 1365 is a [7]dominant member of the well-studied [8]Fornax Cluster of galaxies. This impressively [9]sharp color image shows the intense, reddish star forming regions near the ends of central bar and along the spiral arms, with details of the obscuring dust lanes cutting across the galaxy's bright core. At the core lies a supermassive black hole. Astronomers think [10]NGC 1365's prominent bar plays a crucial role in the [11]galaxy's evolution, drawing gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom and ultimately feeding material into the [12]central black hole. Tomorrow's picture: northern Saturn __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC, [33]NASA Science Activation & [34]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2212/NGC1365-CDK24-CDK17.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.martinpughastrophotography.space/about 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100109.html 6. https://earthsky.org/constellations/fornax-the-furnace-galaxy-hubble-ultra-deep-field/ 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160611.html 8. http://heritage.stsci.edu/2005/09/supplemental.html 9. https://www.martinpughastrophotography.space/galaxies 10. http://arxiv.org/abs/0907.2602 11. https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/1999/34/898-Image.html 12. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-image-webb-galaxy-ngc-supermassive.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221221.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=221222 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221223.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 33. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 34. http://www.mtu.edu/