¿ 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. 2020 November 15 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Edge-On Galaxy NGC 5866 Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, and The [5]Hubble Heritage Team ([6]STScI/[7]AURA); Acknowledgment: [8]W. Keel ([9]U. Alabama) Explanation: Why is this galaxy so thin? Many disk galaxies are just as thin as NGC 5866, [10]pictured here, but are not [11]seen edge-on from our vantage point. One galaxy that is situated edge-on is our own [12]Milky Way Galaxy. Classified as a [13]lenticular galaxy, NGC 5866 has numerous and complex dust lanes appearing dark and red, while many of the bright stars in the disk give it a more blue underlying hue. The blue disk of young stars can be seen extending past the [14]dust in the extremely thin galactic plane, while the bulge in the disk center appears tinged more orange from the older and redder stars that likely exist there. Although similar in mass to our [15]Milky Way Galaxy, light takes about 60,000 [16]years to cross [17]NGC 5866, about 30 percent less than light takes to cross our own Galaxy. In general, many disk galaxies are very thin because the gas that [18]formed them collided with itself as it rotated about the gravitational center. Galaxy [19]NGC 5866 lies about 44 million light years distant toward the constellation of the Dragon ([20]Draco). Almost Hyperspace: [21]Random APOD Generator Tomorrow's picture: grecian skyscape __________________________________________________________________ [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/2011/ngc5866_hst_1235.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.spacetelescope.org/ 5. https://hubblesite.org/resource-gallery/learning-resources/hubble-heritage 6. https://www.stsci.edu/ 7. https://www.aura-astronomy.org/ 8. http://pages.astronomy.ua.edu/keel/billkeel.html 9. http://physics.ua.edu/ 10. https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0624a/ 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010510.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050605.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020408.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap990919.html 15. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/285/the-milky-way-galaxy/ 16. https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question19.html 17. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003AAS...20311002K/abstract 18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_formation_and_evolution 19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_5866 20. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/constellations/draco.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201114.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=201115 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201116.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/