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.

                               2024 January 3
     [2]A spiral galaxy with big blue spiral arms is shown with a center
   that appears more yellow. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

                   NGC 1232: A Grand Design Spiral Galaxy
            Image Credit: [3]FORS, [4]8.2-meter VLT Antu, [5]ESO

   Explanation: [6]Galaxies are fascinating not only for what is visible,
   but for what is invisible. [7]Grand spiral galaxy [8]NGC 1232,
   [9]captured in detail by one of the [10]Very Large Telescopes, is a
   good example. The visible is dominated by millions of [11]bright stars
   and dark [12]dust, caught up in a gravitational swirl of spiral arms
   revolving about the center. [13]Open clusters containing bright blue
   stars can be seen sprinkled along these spiral arms, while [14]dark
   lanes of dense interstellar [15]dust can be seen sprinkled between
   them. [16]Less visible, but detectable, are billions of dim normal
   stars and vast tracts of [17]interstellar gas, together wielding such
   high mass that they dominate the dynamics of the inner [18]galaxy.
   Leading theories indicate that even [19]greater amounts of matter are
   invisible, in a form we don't yet know. This pervasive [20]dark matter
   is postulated, in part, to explain the [21]motions of the visible
   matter in the outer regions of galaxies.

    Free APOD Lecture: [22]January 9, 2024 to the Amateur Astronomers of
                           Association of New York
                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [34]Robert Nemiroff ([35]MTU) & [36]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([37]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [38]Specific rights apply.
              [39]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [40]ASD at [41]NASA / [42]GSFC,
                         [43]NASA Science Activation
                           & [44]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2401/ngc1232b_vlt_3969.jpg
   3. https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/instruments/fors/
   4. https://www.eso.org/projects/vlt/
   5. https://www.eso.org/
   6. https://pages.astronomy.ua.edu/keel/galaxies/
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap961030.html
   8. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997AAS...191.8203B/abstract
   9. https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9845d/
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000707.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221205.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/open_clusters.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap980116.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap001119.html
  16. https://files.ctctcdn.com/3a7f39ae001/aedd7697-f09f-4b3a-8f7b-256d0a0389bc.jpg
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010113.html
  18. https://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=18005
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap031231.html
  20. https://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_astro/dark_matter.html
  21. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter
  22. https://aaa.org/event/2023-astronomy-picture-of-the-day/
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231231.html
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  29. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  32. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=240101
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240102.html
  34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  37. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  39. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  40. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  41. https://www.nasa.gov/
  42. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  43. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  44. http://www.mtu.edu/