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Credit & Copyright: Adam Block
Explanation:
Over 500,000 light years across,
NGC 6872
(bottom left) is a truly
enormous
barred spiral galaxy.
At least 5 times the size of our own large Milky Way,
NGC 6872
is the largest
known spiral galaxy.
About 200 million light-years distant
toward the southern constellation Pavo, the Peacock,
the appearance of this giant galaxy's
stretched out spiral arms suggest the wings of a giant bird.
So its popular moniker is the Condor galaxy.
Lined with massive young, bluish star clusters and
star-forming
regions,
the extended and distorted spiral arms are
due to NGC 6872's past gravitational interactions with the nearby smaller
galaxy IC 4970,
visible here below the giant spiral galaxy's core.
Other members of the southern
Pavo galaxy group
are scattered through this
magnificent galaxy group
portrait,
with the dominant giant elliptical galaxy, NGC 6876,
above and right of the soaring Condor galaxy.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: spiral galaxy - interacting galaxies
Publications with words: spiral galaxy - interacting galaxies
See also:
- APOD: 2025 August 18 B NGC 1309: A Useful Spiral Galaxy
- APOD: 2025 July 4 B NGC 6946 and NGC 6939
- APOD: 2025 June 30 B NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy
- APOD: 2025 June 19 B NGC 3521: Galaxy in a Bubble
- Rubin's Galaxy
- APOD: 2025 June 8 B Facing NGC 3344
- APOD: 2025 June 1 B UGC 1810: Wildly Interacting Galaxy from Hubble