                        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 23

                           Spiral Galaxy NGC 2841
                 Image Credit & Copyright: Roberto Marinoni

   Explanation: A mere 46 million light-years distant, spiral galaxy NGC
   2841 can be found in planet Earth's night sky toward the northern
   constellation of Ursa Major. This sharp image centered on the gorgeous
   island universe also captures spiky foreground Milky Way stars and more
   distant background galaxies within the same telescopic field of view.
   It shows off the bright nucleus of NGC 2841, along with its inclined
   galactic disk, and faint outer regions. Dust lanes, small star-forming
   regions, and young star clusters are embedded in the galaxy's patchy,
   tightly wound spiral arms. In contrast, many other spirals exhibit
   broader, sweeping arms with large star-forming regions. NGC 2841 has a
   diameter of over 150,000 light-years, making it even larger than our
   own Milky Way. X-ray images suggest that extreme outflows from giant
   stars and stellar explosions create plumes of hot gas extending into a
   halo around NGC 2841.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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