                        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.

                                2023 March 2

                             Unraveling NGC 3169
             Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby & 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, 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 interact gravitationally. Eventually the
   galaxies will merge into one, a common fate even for bright galaxies in
   the local universe. Drawn out stellar arcs and plumes are clear
   indications of the ongoing gravitational interactions across the deep
   and colorful 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,
   harboring an active galactic nucleus that is the site of a supermassive
   black hole.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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