May 26, 2022
The elements that make you — the calcium in your bones, the oxygen in your lungs — were scattered across space by dying stars long before...
NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge
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APOD published May 26, 2022. Credit: Michael Sherick. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is viewed edge-on from planet Earth. Also known as the Needle Galaxy for its narrow profile, bright NGC 4565 is a stop on many telescopic tours of the northern sky, in the faint but well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. This sharp, colorful image reveals the galaxy's boxy, bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. NGC 4565 itself lies about 40 million light-years distant and spans some 100,000 light-years. Easily spotted with small telescopes, sky enthusiasts consider NGC 4565 to be a prominent celestial masterpiece Messier missed.
Image credit: Michael Sherick