June 6, 2009
On the day you were born, another consciousness opened inside the cosmos and began taking notes.
One-Armed Spiral Galaxy NGC 4725
Birthday · June 6, 2009
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published June 6, 2009. Credit: Mike Siniscalchi. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
While most spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way, have two or more spiral arms, NGC 4725 seems to have only one. In this sharp color image, the solo spira mirabilis is tightly wound, traced by bluish, newborn star clusters. The odd galaxy also sports obscuring dust lanes, a prominent ring, and a yellowish central bar structure composed of an older population of stars. NGC 4725 is over 100 thousand light-years across and lies 41 million light-years away in the well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. Computer simulations of the formation of single spiral arms suggest that they can be either leading or trailing arms with respect to a galaxy's overall rotation.
Image credit: Mike Siniscalchi