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. 2024 March 15 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Portrait of NGC 1055 Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Dave Doctor Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 1055 is a dominant member of [5]a small galaxy group a mere 60 million light-years away toward the aquatically intimidating [6]constellation Cetus. Seen edge-on, the island universe spans over 100,000 light-years, a little larger than our [7]own Milky Way galaxy. The colorful, spiky stars decorating this cosmic [8]portrait of NGC 1055 are in the foreground, well within the Milky Way. But the [9]telltale pinkish star forming regions are scattered through winding dust lanes along the distant galaxy's thin disk. With a smattering of even more distant background galaxies, the deep image also reveals a boxy halo that extends far above and below the central bulge and disk of NGC 1055. The halo itself is laced with faint, narrow structures, and could represent the mixed and spread out [10]debris from a satellite galaxy [11]disrupted by the larger spiral some [12]10 billion years ago. Tomorrow's picture: an extremely large telescope __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy, [30]Accessibility Notices A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC, [34]NASA Science Activation & [35]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2403/Image133k_n1055.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://daveandtelescope.wordpress.com/ 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061215.html 6. http://hawastsoc.org/deepsky/cet/index.html 7. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/galaxy-location.html 8. https://daveandtelescope.wordpress.com/2024/03/12/new-image-edge-on-ngc-1055/ 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160909.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080619.html 11. http://arxiv.org/abs/1003.4860 12. http://www.cosmotography.com/images/cosmological_modeling_overview.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240314.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=240315 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240316.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 34. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 35. http://www.mtu.edu/