Astronomy Picture of the Day
Posted By admin On October 16, 2011 @ 7:44 am In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled
[1]Image Credit & Copyright [2]: Bob Franke [3]
Explanation: Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 [4] is viewed edge-on from planet Earth. Also known as the Needle Galaxy [5] for its narrow profile, bright NGC 4565 is a stop on many telescopic tours of the northern sky, in the faint but well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices [6]. This sharp, colorful image [7] reveals the galaxy’s bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes [8] that lace NGC 4565′sthin galactic plane [9]. An assortment of other background galaxies is included in the pretty field of view, with neighboring galaxy NGC 4562 at the lower right. NGC 4565 itself lies about 40 millionlight-years [10] distant and spans some 100,000 light-years. Easily spotted with small telescopes, sky enthusiasts [11] consider NGC 4565 [12] to be a prominent celestial masterpiece Messier missed [13].
Article printed from Recorder Online: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com
URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/10/16/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-75/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ngc4565big_franke.jpg
[2] Copyright: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
[3] Bob Franke: http://bf-astro.com/
[4] NGC 4565: http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/n4565.html
[5] Needle Galaxy: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap990617.html
[6] Coma Berenices: http://www.dibonsmith.com/com_con.htm
[7] This sharp, colorful image: http://bf-astro.com/ngc4565/ngc4565.htm
[8] dust lanes: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070729.html
[9] thin galactic plane: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100225.html
[10] light-years: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html
[11] sky enthusiasts: http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1059
[12] NGC 4565: http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/n4565.html
[13] Messier missed: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080419.html
Click here to print.