NGC 1566：西班牙舞者螺旋星系

NGC 1566：西班牙舞者螺旋星系

NGC 1566: The Spanish Dancer Spiral Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Mark Hanson and Mike Selby

Explanation: An island universe of billions of stars, NGC 1566 lies about 60 million light-years away in the southern constellation Dorado. Popularly known as the Spanish Dancer galaxy, it’s seen face-on from our Milky Way perspective. A gorgeous grand design spiral, this galaxy’s two graceful spiral arms span over 100,000 light-years, traced by bright blue star clusters, pinkish starforming regions, and swirling cosmic dust lanes. NGC 1566’s flaring center makes the spiral one of the closest and brightest Seyfert galaxies. It likely houses a central supermassive black hole wreaking havoc on 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

NGC 1566：西班牙舞者螺旋星系
影像提供与版权: Mark Hanson and Mike Selby

说明: 由数十亿颗恒星聚成的NGC 1566，是个位在南天剑鱼座方向约6千万光年远处的宇宙岛。从我们所在的银河系看出去，这个更常称为“西班牙舞者螺旋星系”的天体为正向星系。分类为宏伟螺旋星系的NGC 1566，拥有二道长超过10万光年的优美螺旋臂，上头镶着明亮的泛蓝星团、粉红恒星形成区、及黝黑涡旋状的宇宙尘埃。NGC 1566拥有经常爆发的活跃星系核，而它也是离我们最近最明亮的西佛型螺旋星系。其核心可能藏着一颗超大质量的黑洞，不停肆虐周遭的恒星、气体和尘埃。在这幅南天星系的清晰影像里，带星芒的恒星近在银河系之内。

明日的图片: light-weekend