Posted on 08/13/2021 3:59:08 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: If not perfect then this spiral galaxy is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe of about 100 billion stars, 32 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces, M74 presents a gorgeous face-on view. Classified as an Sc galaxy, the grand design of M74's graceful spiral arms are traced by bright blue star clusters and dark cosmic dust lanes. This sharp composite was constructed from image data recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Spanning about 30,000 light-years across the face of M74, it includes exposures recording emission from hydrogen atoms, highlighting the reddish glow of the galaxy's large star-forming regions. With a lower surface brightness than most galaxies in the Messier catalog, M74 is sometimes known as the Phantom Galaxy.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
Remarkably like a chambered nautilus.
You, sir, have no sense of adventure. Heh. :-)
lol
I never tire of looking at Hubble photos. We will never visit such places, but their photons come to US.🙂
Only 100 billion suns? 30,000 light years across?
Our Milky Way contains 400 billion suns, and spans 180,000 light years.
I laugh at M74!
I wonder if someone is looking at our galaxy and saying “I am glad we don’t live there, that Andromeda galaxy is about to hit them”.
If there’s not life out there,it’s an awful waste of space.
A naive question that just occurred to me; are there counterclockwise spiral astronomic photos? I’m sure there are, but I don’t recall any.
Yes. If you view a galaxy from one side and it looks like a CW spiral, If you looked at it from the other side it would look like a CCW spiral. At least theoretically that is what it should be. I have never done it myself.
It would fit into a tiny corner of mother Russia !
The ‘spiral’ is God’s signature..........................
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