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 July 1 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Three Galaxies in Draco Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]David Vernet , Jean-François Bax , Serge Brunier, [5]OCA/C2PU Explanation: This tantalizing trio of galaxies sometimes called the Draco Group, is located in the northern constellation of (you guessed it) [6]Draco, the Dragon. From left to right are [7]face-on spiral NGC 5985, [8]elliptical galaxy NGC 5982, and [9]edge-on spiral NGC 5981, all found within this single telescopic field of view that spans a little more than the width of the full moon. While the group is far too small to be a [10]galaxy cluster, and has not been [11]catalogued as a compact galaxy group, the three galaxies all do lie roughly 100 million light-years from planet Earth. Not as well known as other tight [12]groupings of galaxies, the contrast in visual appearance still makes this triplet an attractive subject for astroimagers. On close examination with [13]spectrographs, the bright core of striking spiral NGC 5985 shows prominent emission in specific wavelengths of light, prompting astronomers to classify it as a [14]Seyfert, a type of active galaxy. This [15]impressively deep exposure hints at a faint dim halo along with sharp-edged shells surrounding elliptical NGC 5982, evidence of past galactic mergers. It also reveals many even more [16]distant background galaxies. Tomorrow's picture: over and under __________________________________________________________________ [17]< | [18]Archive | [19]Submissions | [20]Index | [21]Search | [22]Calendar | [23]RSS | [24]Education | [25]About APOD | [26]Discuss | [27]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [28]Robert Nemiroff ([29]MTU) & [30]Jerry Bonnell ([31]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [32]Specific rights apply. [33]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [34]ASD at [35]NASA / [36]GSFC & [37]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2307/DracoTrio_TeamOmicron.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. http://www.astrosurf.com/topic/162191-team-omicron-le-trio-du-dragon/ 5. https://www.oca.eu/fr/c2pu-accueil 6. http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/dra/index.html 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040410.html 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060520.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010510.html 10. http://www.seds.org/messier/gal_clus.html 11. http://www.astro.ubc.ca/people/hickson/hcg/ 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220718.html 13. http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/how_l1/spectral.html 14. http://www.seds.org/~spider/spider/ScholarX/seyferts.html 15. https://www.astrobin.com/os11uz/D/ 16. https://universe.nasa.gov/galaxies/basics/ 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230630.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 21. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 26. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230701 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230702.html 28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 29. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 30. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 31. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 33. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 34. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 35. https://www.nasa.gov/ 36. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 37. http://www.mtu.edu/