Astronomy Picture of the Day
Posted By admin On April 6, 2011 @ 9:45 pm In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled
If not perfect, then this spiral galaxy [1] is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe [2] of about 100 billion stars,
[3]
M74: The Perfect Spiral
Credit & Copyright [4]: Descubre Foundation [5], Calar Alto Observatory [6], OAUV [7], DSA [8], V. Peris (OAUV), J. L. Lamadrid (CEFCA [9]), J. Harvey [10] (SSRO [11]), S. Mazlin (SSRO), I. Rodriguez (PTeam [12]), O. L. (PTeam), J. Conejero (PixInsight [12]).
Explanation: If not perfect, then this spiral galaxy [1] is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe [2] of about 100 billion stars, 32 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces [13], M74 presents [14] a gorgeous face-on view [15]. Classified as an Sc [16] galaxy, the grand design [17] of M74′s graceful spiral [18] arms are traced by bright blue star clusters [19] and dark cosmic dust [20] lanes. The above image [21] covers half the width of the full Moon and was obtained using 19 hours of exposure on the 1.23-meter telescope at Calar Alto Observatory [6] in the Sierra de Los Filabres [22] mountain range in Spain. Spanning [23] about 30,000 light-years across the face of M74 [24], it includes exposures recording emission from hydrogen [25]atoms, highlighting [26] the reddish glow of the galaxy’s large star-forming regions.
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day [27]
Article printed from Recorder Online: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com
URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/04/06/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-51/
URLs in this post:
[1] spiral galaxy: http://www.seds.org/messier/spir.html
[2] island universe: http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March02/Gordon/Gordon2.html
[3] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/m74_baixauli_1800.jpg
[4] Copyright: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
[5] Descubre Foundation: http://www.cienciadirecta.com/
[6] Calar Alto Observatory: http://www.caha.es/
[7] OAUV: http://observatori.uv.es/
[8] DSA: http://astro-photographer.org/
[9] CEFCA: http://cefca.es/
[10] J. Harvey: http://pegasusastronomy.com/
[11] SSRO: http://www.starshadows.com/
[12] PTeam: http://pixinsight.com/
[13] constellation Pisces: http://www.allthesky.com/constellations/pisces/constell.html
[14] M74 presents: http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m074.html
[15] face-on view: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010427.html
[16] an Sc: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_sequence
[17] grand design: http://burro.cwru.edu/Academics/Astr222/Galaxies/Spiral/spiral.html
[18] spiral: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=18005
[19] blue star clusters: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap990402.html
[20] cosmic dust: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071129.html
[21] above image: http://pixinsight.com/gallery/M74-CAHA/en.html
[22] Sierra de Los Filabres: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_de_Los_Filabres
[23] Spanning: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/41/image/a/format/zoom/
[24] M74: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071201.html
[25] hydrogen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdbGCBrOCak
[26] highlighting: http://heritage.stsci.edu/2007/41/supplemental.html
[27] Astronomy Pictures of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
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