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.

                                2023 June 23
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                           Giant Galaxies in Pavo
    Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Mike Selby, [5]Observatorio El Sauce

   Explanation: Over 500,000 light years across, [6]NGC 6872 (top right)
   is a truly [7]enormous barred spiral galaxy, at least 5 times the size
   of our own very large Milky Way. The appearance of this [8]giant
   galaxy's distorted and stretched out spiral arms suggests the
   magnificent wings of a giant bird. Of course its popular moniker is the
   Condor galaxy. It lies about 200 million light-years distant toward the
   southern constellation Pavo, the Peacock. Lined with [9]star-forming
   regions, the distorted spiral arms are due to NGC 6872's gravitational
   interaction with the nearby smaller [10]galaxy IC 4970, seen just above
   the giant galaxy's core. [11]The Pavo galaxy group's dominant giant
   elliptical galaxy, NGC 6876 is below and left of the soaring Condor
   galaxy.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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    Authors & editors: [23]Robert Nemiroff ([24]MTU) & [25]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([26]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [27]Specific rights apply.
              [28]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [29]ASD at [30]NASA / [31]GSFC
                           & [32]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2306/NGC-6872-LRGB-rev-5-crop-CDK-1000-22-May-2023.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.facebook.com/masterdarksastro/
   5. https://obstech.cl/
   6. http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9924b/
   7. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007A&A...464..155H/abstract
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110403.html
   9. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009ApJ...691.1921M/abstract
  10. http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/ngc6872/
  11. https://www.astroexplorer.org/details/apj296376f1
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230622.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  16. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  21. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230623
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230624.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  26. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  28. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  29. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  32. http://www.mtu.edu/