                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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.

                               2024 December 2
    A classic spiral galaxy is shown with blue spiral arms. The center is
      yellow-red. Many star clusters are easily visible. Please see the
                 explanation for more detailed information.

                         NGC 300: A Galaxy of Stars
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Stern

   Explanation: This galaxy is unusual for how many stars it seems that
   you can see. Stars are so abundantly evident in this deep exposure of
   the spiral galaxy NGC 300 because so many of these stars are bright
   blue and grouped into resolvable bright star clusters. Additionally,
   NGC 300 is so clear because it is one of the closest spiral galaxies to
   Earth, as light takes only about 6 million years to get here. Of
   course, galaxies are composed of many more faint stars than bright, and
   even more of a galaxy's mass is attributed to unseen dark matter. NGC
   300 spans nearly the same amount of sky as the full moon and is visible
   with a small telescope toward the southern constellation of the
   Sculptor. The featured image was captured in October from Rio Hurtado,
   Chile and is a composite of over 20 hours of exposure.

                    Tomorrow's picture: red planet blues
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

