Posted on 11/12/2021 2:53:37 PM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: The small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, M33. Its popular names include the Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum Galaxy. M33 is over 50,000 light-years in diameter, third largest in the Local Group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and our own Milky Way. About 3 million light-years from the Milky Way, M33 is itself thought to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy and astronomers in these two galaxies would likely have spectacular views of each other's grand spiral star systems. As for the view from planet Earth, this sharp image shows off M33's blue star clusters and pinkish star forming regions along the galaxy's loosely wound spiral arms. In fact, the cavernous NGC 604 is the brightest star forming region, seen here at about the 4 o'clock position from the galaxy center. Like M31, M33's population of well-measured variable stars have helped make this nearby spiral a cosmic yardstick for establishing the distance scale of the Universe.
(Excerpt) Read more at apod.nasa.gov ...
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.
Beautiful.
L
How many millions of worlds can we see in this single pic? And yet our own world contains a million worlds. There is no end to the dazzling beauty.
... of God.
Only a few thousand stars are bright enough to actually distinguish individually. But for each of those, there are probably a million others that only contribute to the background glow you see.
What’s triangly about it?
You have to drink quite a bit to see it.
So very few of us can step outside and see this constellation, let alone this M33 Galaxy, awash as we are in light pollution! We have the illusion of that light-created veil, the illusion that we are the masters of creation and our own future.
Yet, if we travel to one of those dwindling dark-skies areas and behold true infinity, THEN we understand the Psalmist who asks; “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” [Psalms 8-4 KJV]
Technology is truly a two-edged sword! Electric light has done much for us, lighting our paths and extending our days. Imagine surgery without it and shiver! Yet my feeling is that we have also lost a source of wonder and place. The deep night sky shows us that we are part of something much, much bigger!
I pray to God for some thing that can restore to us what was lost when Thomas Edison banished the night!
Excellently put.
M33 is called the Triangulum Galaxy because it’s located in the constellation Triangulum, which is Latin for “triangle”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangulum
The stars with diffraction spikes are in our own galaxy, and many of the dimmer ones. There are also a lot of blue giant stars in the spiral arms of M33 itself, usually in clusters, that you can see even at this distance. They can be up to a million times as bright as the sun, but are short-lived and very rare. Most stars in galaxies are red dwarfs less than 1% as bright as the sun.
Now, that’s my kind of science! *opens a case of whiskey*
I’ll give you three guesses.................
I'm a teetotaler. I can't drink as much as mtnclimber says it takes to see it.
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