Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]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.

                               2025 December 2
     [2]A big beautiful sprawling spiral galaxy is shown. The galaxy has
    well defined spiral arms with bright blue star clusters and dark red
   dust. The center is a bright white. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

                  M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center
    Image Credit: [3]Hubble, [4]NASA, [5]ESA, [6]L. C. Ho, [7]D. Thilker

   Explanation: What's happening in the center of nearby spiral galaxy
   M77? The face-on galaxy lies a mere 47 million [8]light-years away
   toward the constellation of the Sea Monster ([9]Cetus). At that
   estimated distance, this gorgeous [10]island universe is about 100
   thousand light-years across. Also known as [11]NGC 1068, its compact
   and very bright core is [12]well studied by astronomers exploring the
   mysteries of [13]supermassive black holes in active [14]Seyfert
   galaxies. M77's active core glows bright at [15]x-ray, [16]ultraviolet,
   [17]visible, [18]infrared, and [19]radio wavelengths. The [20]featured
   sharp image of M77 was taken by the [21]Hubble Space Telescope. The
   image shows details of the spiral's [22]winding spiral arms as traced
   by [23]obscuring red dust clouds and [24]blue star clusters, all
   circling the galaxy's bright white [25]luminous center.

      Free APOD Lecture in Phoenix: [26]Wednesday, December 10 at 7 pm
                     Tomorrow's picture: black hole trip
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [38]Robert Nemiroff ([39]MTU) & [40]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([41]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [42]Specific rights apply.
            [43]NASA Web Privacy, [44]Accessibility, [45]Notices;
                A service of: [46]ASD at [47]NASA / [48]GSFC,
                         [49]NASA Science Activation
                           & [50]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2512/M77_Hubble_3681.jpg
   3. https://hla.stsci.edu/
   4. https://www.nasa.gov/
   5. https://www.esa.int/
   6. http://kavli.pku.edu.cn/people/luis-c-ho
   7. https://physics-astronomy.jhu.edu/directory/david-thilker/
   8. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html
   9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetus_(constellation)
  10. https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March02/Gordon/Gordon2.html
  11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_77
  12. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://external-preview.redd.it/dNVVXSoLqNrWLIwCdFQXnh64EN06q51x5PgWyVK0aO0.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=7c1f6961b485f508f309e0dc4415455e02564ca6
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250504.html
  14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seyfert_galaxy
  15. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/11_xrays
  16. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves
  17. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight
  18. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/07_infraredwaves
  19. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/05_radiowaves
  20. https://esahubble.org/images/potw2515a/
  21. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/overview/about-hubble/
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161109.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130831.html
  24. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/universe-uncovered/hubble-star-clusters/
  25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_galactic_nucleus
  26. https://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=44722
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251201.html
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  31. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  33. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  36. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=251202
  37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251203.html
  38. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  39. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  40. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  41. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  42. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  43. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  44. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  45. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  46. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  47. https://www.nasa.gov/
  48. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  49. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  50. http://www.mtu.edu/