APOD: 2025 December 2 – M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center
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 December 2
M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center
Image Credit:
Hubble,
NASA,
ESA,
L. C. Ho,
D. Thilker
Explanation:
What’s happening in the center of nearby spiral galaxy M77?
The face-on galaxy lies a mere 47 million
light-years away toward the constellation of the Sea Monster
(Cetus).
At that estimated distance, this gorgeous
island universe is about 100 thousand light-years across.
Also known as
NGC 1068,
its compact and very bright core is
well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of
supermassive black holes in active
Seyfert galaxies.
M77’s active core glows bright at
x-ray,
ultraviolet,
visible,
infrared, and
radio wavelengths.
The
featured sharp image of M77 was taken by the
Hubble Space Telescope.
The image shows details of the spiral’s
winding spiral arms as traced by
obscuring red dust clouds and
blue star clusters, all circling the galaxy’s bright white
luminous center.
Free APOD Lecture in Phoenix:
Wednesday, December 10 at 7 pm
Tomorrow’s picture: black hole trip
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn
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