                        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 June 13

                             Messier 66 Close Up
      Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble
                               Collaboration.
            Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin and Robert Gendler

   Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy Messier 66 lies a mere 35
   million light-years away. The gorgeous island universe is about 100
   thousand light-years across, similar in size to the Milky Way. This
   Hubble Space Telescope close-up view spans a region about 30,000
   light-years wide around the galactic core. It shows the galaxy's disk
   dramatically inclined to our line-of-sight. Surrounding its bright
   core, the likely home of a supermassive black hole, obscuring dust
   lanes and young, blue star clusters sweep along spiral arms dotted with
   the tell-tale glow of pinkish star forming regions. Messier 66, also
   known as NGC 3627, is the brightest of the three galaxies in the
   gravitationally interacting Leo Triplet.

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