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. 2025 December 2 [2]A big beautiful sprawling spiral galaxy is shown. The galaxy has well defined spiral arms with bright blue star clusters and dark red dust. The center is a bright white. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center Image Credit: [3]Hubble, [4]NASA, [5]ESA, [6]L. C. Ho, [7]D. Thilker Explanation: What's happening in the center of nearby spiral galaxy M77? The face-on galaxy lies a mere 47 million [8]light-years away toward the constellation of the Sea Monster ([9]Cetus). At that estimated distance, this gorgeous [10]island universe is about 100 thousand light-years across. Also known as [11]NGC 1068, its compact and very bright core is [12]well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of [13]supermassive black holes in active [14]Seyfert galaxies. M77's active core glows bright at [15]x-ray, [16]ultraviolet, [17]visible, [18]infrared, and [19]radio wavelengths. The [20]featured sharp image of M77 was taken by the [21]Hubble Space Telescope. The image shows details of the spiral's [22]winding spiral arms as traced by [23]obscuring red dust clouds and [24]blue star clusters, all circling the galaxy's bright white [25]luminous center. Free APOD Lecture in Phoenix: [26]Wednesday, December 10 at 7 pm Tomorrow's picture: black hole trip __________________________________________________________________ [27]< | [28]Archive | [29]Submissions | [30]Index | [31]Search | [32]Calendar | [33]RSS | [34]Education | [35]About APOD | [36]Discuss | [37]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [38]Robert Nemiroff ([39]MTU) & [40]Jerry Bonnell ([41]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [42]Specific rights apply. [43]NASA Web Privacy, [44]Accessibility, [45]Notices; A service of: [46]ASD at [47]NASA / [48]GSFC, [49]NASA Science Activation & [50]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2512/M77_Hubble_3681.jpg 3. https://hla.stsci.edu/ 4. https://www.nasa.gov/ 5. https://www.esa.int/ 6. http://kavli.pku.edu.cn/people/luis-c-ho 7. https://physics-astronomy.jhu.edu/directory/david-thilker/ 8. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetus_(constellation) 10. https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March02/Gordon/Gordon2.html 11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_77 12. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://external-preview.redd.it/dNVVXSoLqNrWLIwCdFQXnh64EN06q51x5PgWyVK0aO0.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=7c1f6961b485f508f309e0dc4415455e02564ca6 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250504.html 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seyfert_galaxy 15. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/11_xrays 16. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves 17. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight 18. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/07_infraredwaves 19. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/05_radiowaves 20. https://esahubble.org/images/potw2515a/ 21. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/overview/about-hubble/ 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161109.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130831.html 24. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/universe-uncovered/hubble-star-clusters/ 25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_galactic_nucleus 26. https://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=44722 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251201.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 31. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 33. https://apod.com/feed.rss 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 36. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=251202 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251203.html 38. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 39. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 40. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 41. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 42. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 43. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 44. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 45. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 46. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 47. https://www.nasa.gov/ 48. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 49. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 50. http://www.mtu.edu/