Astronomy Picture Of The Day Explore the cosmos Every day, a new image or photograph of the fascinating universe is presented along with a short explanation by an astronomer. 2021 October 15
NGC 289: Swirl the Southern Sky
Image Credit and Copyright: Mike Selby
Explanation: At 70 million light years distant, the beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 289. It is larger than our Milky Way. Nearly face-on, the galaxy's bright central disc and bright center give way to its bluish, faint spiral arms. These extensive arms extend well beyond 100 000 light-years from galaxy's center. The main spiral arm appears to be encountering a small, fuzzy, elliptical companion galaxy at the lower right of this sharp, telescopic galaxy picture. This galaxy interacts with NGC 289. The scene is dominated by spiky stars in the foreground. They are located in the Milky Way towards the southern constellation Sculptor.
