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.

Today's Picture: June 26, 1995

The Spiral Galaxy M100
Picture Credit: NASA, Hubble Space Telescope

Explanation: The M100 galaxy is a large spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way, containing over 100 billion stars. It is over 150 million light years away, so the light we see left when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. The picture was taken in 1993 with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope.

For more information see NASA Space Telescope Scientific Institute press release.

Tomorrow's picture: An ultraviolet image of M101

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
&: Michigan Tech. U.