January 24, 2021
You share your birthday with the light of distant galaxies that has been traveling for millions of years just to arrive here, now, alongside...
Massive Nearby Spiral Galaxy NGC 2841
Birthday · January 24, 2021
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APOD published January 24, 2021. Credit: Roberto Colombari. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
It is one of the more massive galaxies known. A mere 46 million light-years distant, spiral galaxy NGC 2841 can be found in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. This sharp view of the gorgeous island universe shows off a striking yellow nucleus and galactic disk. Dust lanes, small, pink star-forming regions, and young blue star clusters are embedded in the patchy, tightly wound spiral arms. In contrast, many other spirals exhibit grand, sweeping arms with large star-forming regions. NGC 2841 has a diameter of over 150,000 light-years, even larger than our own Milky Way. The featured composite image merges exposures from the orbiting 2.4-meter Hubble Space Telescope and the ground-based 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope. X-ray images suggest that resulting winds and stellar explosions create plumes of hot gas extending into a halo around NGC 2841.
Image credit: Roberto Colombari