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. 2019 November 12 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. NGC 3717: A Nearly Sideways Spiral Galaxy Image Credit: [3]ESA/[4]Hubble & [5]NASA, Processing: [6]D. Rosario Explanation: Some spiral galaxies are seen nearly sideways. Most bright stars in [7]spiral galaxies swirl around the center in a disk, and seen from the side, this disk can be appear quite thin. Some spiral galaxies appear [8]even [9]thinner than [10]NGC 3717, which is actually seen tilted just a bit. [11]Spiral galaxies form disks because the original [12]gas collided with itself and [13]cooled as it fell inward. Planets may orbit in [14]disks for similar reasons. The [15]featured image by the [16]Hubble Space Telescope shows a light-colored central bulge composed of older stars beyond [17]filaments of orbiting dark brown [18]dust. [19]NGC 3717 spans about 100,000 [20]light years and lies about 60 million light years away toward the constellation of the Water Snake ([21]Hydra). Tomorrow's picture: a spot on the Sun __________________________________________________________________ [22]< | [23]Archive | [24]Submissions | [25]Index | [26]Search | [27]Calendar | [28]RSS | [29]Education | [30]About APOD | [31]Discuss | [32]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [33]Robert Nemiroff ([34]MTU) & [35]Jerry Bonnell ([36]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [37]Specific rights apply. [38]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [39]ASD at [40]NASA / [41]GSFC & [42]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1911/NGC3717_Hubble_4079.jpg 3. https://www.esa.int/ 4. https://www.spacetelescope.org/ 5. https://www.nasa.gov/ 6. https://www.dur.ac.uk/directory/profile/?id=14290 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_galaxy 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190222.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141105.html 10. http://www.wikisky.org/?ra=11.52517036670921&de=-30.309540643541727&zoom=10&show_grid=1&show_constellation_lines=1&show_constellation_boundaries=1&show_const_names=0&show_galaxies=1&show_box=1&box_ra=11.525556&box_de=-30.307777&box_width=25.709312&box_height=25.709312&box_var_size=1&img_source=DSS2 11. http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/S/Spiral+Galaxy+Formation 12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBpUl-0qBVk 13. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/9a/34/b89a3434e56723ec099539f788194f54.jpg 14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E2hKe3tVUs 15. https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1940a/ 16. https://www.nasa.gov/content/the-hubble-story 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180712.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html 19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_3717 20. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/ 21. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_(constellation) 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191111.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 31. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=191112 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191113.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 35. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 36. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 38. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 39. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 42. http://www.mtu.edu/