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.

                                2021 April 9
     See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                                 Messier 106
   Image Credit: [2]NASA, [3]Hubble Legacy Archive, [4]Kitt Peak National
                                Observatory;
          Amateur Data & Processing [5]Copyright: [6]Robert Gendler

   Explanation: Close to the [7]Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by
   the stars of the [8]Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial
   wonder was [9]discovered in 1781 by the [10]metric French astronomer
   [11]Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend
   and colleague Charles Messier as [12]M106. Modern deep telescopic views
   reveal it to be an [13]island universe - a spiral galaxy around 30
   thousand light-years across located only about 21 million light-years
   beyond the stars of the Milky Way. Along with a bright central core,
   [14]this stunning galaxy portrait, a composite of image data from
   amateur and professional telescopes, highlights youthful blue star
   clusters and reddish stellar nurseries tracing the galaxy's [15]spiral
   arms. It also shows off remarkable reddish [16]jets of glowing hydrogen
   gas. In addition to small companion galaxy NGC 4248 at bottom right,
   background galaxies can be found scattered throughout the frame. M106,
   also known as NGC 4258, is a nearby example of the Seyfert class of
   active galaxies, seen [17]across the spectrum from radio to X-rays.
   Active galaxies are powered by matter falling into a massive
   [18]central black hole.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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    Authors & editors: [30]Robert Nemiroff ([31]MTU) & [32]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([33]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [34]Specific rights apply.
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                A service of: [36]ASD at [37]NASA / [38]GSFC
                           & [39]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://www.nasa.gov/
   3. https://hla.stsci.edu/
   4. https://www.noao.edu/kpno/
   5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   6. http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/
   7. https://www.aavso.org/myths-uma
   8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canes_Venatici
   9. https://www.messier.seds.org/Mdes/dm106.html
  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre
  11. https://www.messier.seds.org/xtra/history/pmechain.html
  12. https://www.messier.seds.org/m/m106.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100109.html
  14. http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/M106-NOAO-HST.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070411.html
  16. http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703307
  17. https://science.nasa.gov/ems
  18. http://www.cosmotography.com/images/supermassive_blackholes_drive_galaxy_evolution.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210408.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  23. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  28. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210409
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210410.html
  30. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  31. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  32. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  33. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  35. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  36. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  37. https://www.nasa.gov/
  38. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  39. http://www.mtu.edu/