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.

                               2022 January 14
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                 NGC 1566: The Spanish Dancer Spiral Galaxy
        Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Mark Hanson and [5]Mike Selby

   Explanation: [6]An island universe of billions of stars, NGC 1566 lies
   about 60 million light-years away in the southern constellation
   [7]Dorado. Popularly known as the Spanish Dancer galaxy, it's seen
   face-on from our [8]Milky Way perspective. A gorgeous grand design
   spiral, this galaxy's two graceful spiral arms span over 100,000
   light-years, traced by bright [9]blue star clusters, pinkish
   starforming regions, and swirling [10]cosmic dust lanes. [11]NGC 1566's
   flaring center makes the spiral one of the closest and brightest
   [12]Seyfert galaxies. It likely houses a central [13]supermassive black
   hole wreaking havoc on [14]surrounding stars, gas, and dust. In this
   sharp southern galaxy portrait, the spiky stars lie well within the
   Milky Way.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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    Authors & editors: [26]Robert Nemiroff ([27]MTU) & [28]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([29]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [30]Specific rights apply.
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                A service of: [32]ASD at [33]NASA / [34]GSFC
                           & [35]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2201/NGC1566LRGBHa-Hanson-SelbyFinal2048.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.hansonastronomy.com/
   5. https://www.facebook.com/masterdarksastro/
   6. http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March02/Gordon/Gordon2.html
   7. https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.14731
   8. https://esahubble.org/images/potw1422a/
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap990402.html
  10. https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/image/sig05-013-ngc-1566
  11. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019MNRAS.483L..88P
  12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seyfert_galaxy
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181203.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190427.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220113.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  19. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  24. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220114
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220115.html
  26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  27. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  28. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  29. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  32. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/
  34. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  35. http://www.mtu.edu/