#ngc1055

Image Credit: John Hayes

NGC 1055 Close up via #NASA #APOD Astronomy Picture Of the Day https://buff.ly/2hX2jnd⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ Big, beautiful #spiralgalaxy #NGC1055 is a dominant member of a small #galaxy group a mere 60 million #lightyears away toward the aquatically intimidating #constellation #Cetus. Seen edge-on, the island #universe spans over 100,000 light-years, a little larger than our own #MilkyWay. The colorful #stars in this #cosmic close-up of #NGC 1055 are in the foreground, well within the #MilkyWay. But the telltale pinkish star forming regions are scattered through winding dust lanes along the distant galaxy's thin disk. With a smattering of even more distant background #galaxies, the deep image also reveals a boxy halo that extends far above and below the central bluge and disk of NGC 1055. The halo itself is laced with faint, narrow structures, and could represent the mixed and spread out debris from a #satellite galaxy disrupted by the larger spiral some 10 billion years ago.

Join me 60 million light years away from Earth where we approach two magnificent galaxies. At the top right we have a spiral galaxy NGC 1055 which is about 100,000 light years in diameter, or about the size of our own Milky Way. Then on the bottom left we have Messier 77 with its gorgeous spiral arms and bright nucleus. However, the nearest galaxy to M77 is 500,000 light years away from it’s “neighbour” NGC 1055, which deems M77 the most remote galaxy in Messier’s catalog. If you looked up in the sky for these objects your field of view would be the size of a full moon on the sky.