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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.

                               2026 January 14
     A big spiral galaxy fills the frame, complete with blue spiral arms
    dotted with red dust and nebulas. Above the spiral galaxy is another
   more diffuse galaxy that has faint wisps extending in many directions.
          Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

                          M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Sleeman

   Explanation: The Whirlpool Galaxy is a classic spiral galaxy. At only
   30 million light years distant and fully 60 thousand light years
   across, M51, also known as NGC 5194, is one of the brightest and most
   picturesque galaxies on the sky. The featured deep image is a digital
   combination of images taken in different colors over 58 hours with a
   telescope from Lijiang, China. Anyone with a good pair of binoculars,
   however, can see this Whirlpool toward the constellation of the Hunting
   Dogs (Canes Venatici). M51 is a spiral galaxy of type Sc and is the
   dominant member of a whole group of galaxies. Astronomers speculate
   that M51's spiral structure is primarily due to its gravitational
   interaction with the smaller galaxy just above it.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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