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                        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.

                               2025 August 18
   A large spiral galaxy appears with stars in the foreground and smaller
    galaxies far in the background. The picturesque spiral has dark dust
    lanes between blue arms. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

                      NGC 1309: A Useful Spiral Galaxy
     Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: L. Galbany, S. Jha, K.
                               Noll, A. Riess

   Explanation: This galaxy is not only pretty -- it's useful. A gorgeous
   spiral some 100 million light-years distant, NGC 1309 lies on the banks
   of the constellation of the River (Eridanus). NGC 1309 spans about
   30,000 light-years, making it about one third the size of our larger
   Milky Way galaxy. Bluish clusters of young stars and dust lanes are
   seen to trace out NGC 1309's spiral arms as they wind around an older
   yellowish star population at its core. Not just another pretty face-on
   spiral galaxy, observations of NGC 1309's two recent supernovas and
   multiple Cepheid variable stars contribute to the calibration of the
   expansion of the Universe. Still, after you get over this beautiful
   galaxy's grand design, check out the array of more distant background
   galaxies also recorded in this sharp image from the Hubble Space
   Telescope.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
     __________________________________________________________________

       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.

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