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. 2024 December 2 [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: [3]Daniel Stern Explanation: This galaxy is unusual for how many stars it seems that you can see. [4]Stars are so abundantly evident in this deep exposure of the spiral galaxy NGC 300 because so many of these stars are [5]bright blue and grouped into resolvable bright star clusters. Additionally, [6]NGC 300 is so clear because it is one of the closest [7]spiral galaxies to Earth, as light takes only about 6 million years to get here. Of course, galaxies are composed of many more [8]faint stars than bright, and even more of a galaxy's mass is attributed to unseen [9]dark matter. [10]NGC 300 spans nearly the same amount of sky as the [11]full moon and is visible with a small telescope toward the southern constellation of the [12]Sculptor. The [13]featured image was captured in October from [14]Rio Hurtado, [15]Chile and is a [16]composite of over 20 hours of exposure. Tomorrow's picture: red planet blues __________________________________________________________________ [17]< | [18]Archive | [19]Submissions | [20]Index | [21]Search | [22]Calendar | [23]RSS | [24]Education | [25]About APOD | [26]Discuss | [27]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [28]Robert Nemiroff ([29]MTU) & [30]Jerry Bonnell ([31]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [32]Specific rights apply. [33]NASA Web Privacy, [34]Accessibility, [35]Notices; A service of: [36]ASD at [37]NASA / [38]GSFC, [39]NASA Science Activation & [40]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2412/Ngc300_Stern_7032.jpg 3. https://www.instagram.com/messierchaser/ 4. https://science.nasa.gov/universe/stars/ 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221205.html 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_300 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_galaxy 8. https://www.reddit.com/r/askastronomy/comments/1g8ftr0/from_the_perspective_of_other_stars_in_the_milky/ 9. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/dark-matter/ 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020821.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240915.html 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sculptor_(constellation) 13. https://www.instagram.com/p/DChWdQOOQzR/ 14. https://youtu.be/a5jUyVPIDAk 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile 16. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://preview.redd.it/what-do-you-call-a-pile-of-kittens-a-meowntain-our-11yo-v0-5u4lbl0trml81.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=256b968c218e77e5edd1aece91ae1182c7eb6abb 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241201.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 21. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 23. https://apod.com/feed.rss 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 26. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=241202 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241203.html 28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 29. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 30. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 31. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 33. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 34. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 35. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 36. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 37. https://www.nasa.gov/ 38. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 39. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 40. http://www.mtu.edu/