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Credit & Copyright: Processing -
Robert Gendler,
Roberto Colombari
Data - Hubble Legacy Archive, European Southern Observatory, et al.
Explanation:
Far beyond
the local
group of galaxies lies
NGC 3621,
some 22 million light-years away.
Found in the multi-headed southern constellation
Hydra,
the winding spiral arms of this gorgeous
island universe are loaded with
luminous blue star clusters, pinkish starforming regions,
and dark dust lanes.
Still, for astronomers
NGC 3621
has not been just another
pretty face-on spiral galaxy.
Some of its brighter stars have been used as
standard candles to establish important estimates of extragalactic
distances
and the
scale
of the Universe.
This beautiful image of NGC 3621,
is a composite of space- and ground-based telescope
data.
It traces the loose spiral arms far from the galaxy's brighter
central regions for some 100,000 light-years.
Spiky foreground stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy and
even more distant background galaxies are scattered across
the colorful skyscape.
Data - Hubble Legacy Archive, European Southern Observatory, et al.
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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 - distance scale
Publications with words: spiral galaxy - distance scale
See also:
- Webb and Hubble: IC 5332
- APOD: 2026 February 4 Á Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: Wide Field
- Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365 from Webb
- APOD: 2026 January 14 Á M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy
- IC 342: Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis
- NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe
- APOD: 2025 November 5 Á Spiral Galaxy NGC 3370 from Hubble