                        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.

                                2024 March 6
    A starfield is shown with an unusual horizontal line segment running
   throug the middle. The segment is an edge-on galaxy and many brown dust
     filaments are visible. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

                          M102: Edge-on Disk Galaxy
        Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: Ehsan Ebahimian

   Explanation: What kind of celestial object is this? A relatively normal
   galaxy -- but seen from its edge. Many disk galaxies are actually just
   as thin as NGC 5866, the Spindle galaxy, pictured here, but are not
   seen edge-on from our vantage point. A perhaps more familiar galaxy
   seen edge-on is our own Milky Way galaxy. Also cataloged as M102, the
   Spindle galaxy has numerous and complex dust lanes appearing dark and
   red, while many of the bright stars in the disk give it a more blue
   underlying hue. The blue disk of young stars can be seen in this Hubble
   image extending past the dust in the extremely thin galactic plane.
   There is evidence that the Spindle galaxy has cannibalized smaller
   galaxies over the past billion years or so, including multiple streams
   of faint stars, dark dust that extends away from the main galactic
   plane, and a surrounding group of galaxies (not shown). In general,
   many disk galaxies become thin because the gas that forms them collides
   with itself as it rotates about the gravitational center. The Spindle
   galaxy lies about 50 million light years distant toward the
   constellation of the Dragon (Draco).

              Tomorrow's picture: not a distant galactic nebula
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn; Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

