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. 2023 March 2 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Unraveling NGC 3169 Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Mike Selby & [5]Mark Hanson Explanation: Spiral galaxy NGC 3169 looks to be unraveling like a ball of cosmic yarn. It lies some 70 million light-years away, [6]south of bright star Regulus toward the faint constellation Sextans. Wound up spiral arms are pulled out into sweeping tidal tails as NGC 3169 (left) and neighboring NGC 3166 [7]interact gravitationally. Eventually the galaxies will merge into one, a common fate even for bright galaxies in [8]the local universe. Drawn out stellar arcs and plumes are clear indications of the ongoing gravitational interactions across the deep and colorful [9]galaxy group photo. The telescopic frame spans about 20 arc minutes or about 400,000 light-years at the group's estimated distance, and includes smaller, bluish NGC 3165 at the right. NGC 3169 is also known to shine across the spectrum from radio to X-rays, [10]harboring an active galactic nucleus that is the site of a supermassive black hole. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space __________________________________________________________________ [11]< | [12]Archive | [13]Submissions | [14]Index | [15]Search | [16]Calendar | [17]RSS | [18]Education | [19]About APOD | [20]Discuss | [21]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell ([25]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [26]Specific rights apply. [27]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [28]ASD at [29]NASA / [30]GSFC, [31]NASA Science Activation & [32]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2303/NGC3169LRGBrevFinalcropCDK1000_27Feb2023_2048.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.facebook.com/masterdarksastro/ 5. https://www.hansonastronomy.com/ 6. http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1114a/ 7. https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-ngc3166/ 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120604.html 9. http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/galgrps/leoii.html 10. http://arxiv.org/abs/0801.4382 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230301.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=230302 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230303.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://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 29. https://www.nasa.gov/ 30. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 31. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 32. http://www.mtu.edu/