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.

                                2023 July 20
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                     M64: The Black Eye Galaxy Close Up
        Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]Hubble, [6]HLA; Processing:
                              [7]Jonathan Lodge

   Explanation: This magnificent spiral galaxy is [8]Messier 64, often
   called the Black Eye Galaxy or the [9]Sleeping Beauty Galaxy for its
   [10]dark-lidded appearance in telescopic views. The spiral's central
   region, about 7,400 light-years across, is pictured in this reprocessed
   image from the Hubble Space Telescope. M64 lies some 17 million
   light-years distant in the otherwise well-groomed northern
   constellation [11]Coma Berenices. The enormous dust clouds partially
   obscuring [12]M64's central region are laced with young, blue star
   clusters and the reddish glow of hydrogen associated with star forming
   regions. But imposing clouds of dust are not this galaxy's only
   peculiar feature. Observations show that M64 is actually composed of
   two concentric, counter-rotating systems. While all the stars in M64
   rotate in the same direction as the interstellar gas in the galaxy's
   central region, gas in the outer regions, extending to about 40,000
   light-years, rotates in the opposite direction. [13]The dusty eye and
   bizarre rotation are likely the result of a billion year old merger of
   two different galaxies.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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    Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([28]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply.
              [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC
                         [34]NASA Science Activation
                           & [35]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2307/M64Hubble.jpg
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. http://www.esa.int/
   5. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/index.html
   6. https://hla.stsci.edu/
   7. https://www.instagram.com/jjlodge
   8. http://messier.seds.org/m/m064.html
   9. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?1994AJ....107..173R
  10. https://www.instagram.com/p/CuoQujIPmiq/
  11. http://hawastsoc.org/deepsky/com/index.html
  12. https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2004/04/1447-Image.html
  13. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/messier-64-the-black-eye-galaxy
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230719.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230720
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230721.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  34. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  35. http://www.mtu.edu/