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M96 Galaxy (HST), Leo Shatz

M96 Galaxy (HST)

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M96 Galaxy (HST), Leo Shatz

M96 Galaxy (HST)

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Description

This image is featured on Astronomy Picture of the Day - Spiral Galaxy M96 from Hubble

Messier 96 is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 31 million light-years away in the constellation Leo, it's about the same mass and size as the Milky Way. It is a very asymmetric galaxy: its dust and gas are unevenly spread throughout its weak spiral arms, and its core is not exactly at the galactic center. Its arms are also asymmetrical, thought to have been influenced by the gravitational pull of other galaxies within the same group as Messier 96.

The galaxy is estimated to contain about 100 billion stars. The galaxy’s bright inner disk is home to a yellow population of old stars, while the spiral arms have rings of blue knots which are open clusters of young, hot, blue stars.

Image credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble

Processing and © Leo Shatz

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_96

https://www.messier-objects.com/messier-96/

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M96 Galaxy (HST), Leo Shatz