Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2024 December 31 [2]A dark field shows an oblong orange glow with some dark and complex dust lanes running through. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. The Twisted Disk of NGC 4753 Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]Hubble; Processing: [6]Alexander Reinartz Explanation: What do you think this is? Here’s a clue: it's bigger than a bread box. [7]Much bigger. The answer is that pictured [8]NGC 4753 is a [9]twisted disk galaxy, where unusual [10]dark dust filaments provide clues about its history. No one is sure what happened, but a [11]leading model holds that a relatively normal disk galaxy gravitationally ripped apart a dusty [12]satellite galaxy while its [13]precession distorted the plane of the [14]accreted debris as it rotated. The [15]cosmic collision is [16]hypothesized to have started about a billion years ago. [17]NGC 4753 is seen from the side, and possibly would look like a normal spiral galaxy from the top. The bright orange [18]halo is composed of many older stars that might trace [19]dark matter. The featured [20]Hubble image was recently reprocessed to highlight [21]ultraviolet and red-light emissions. APOD Year in Review: [22]NASA Night Sky Network Presentation for 2024 Tomorrow's picture: nearby triple __________________________________________________________________ [23]< | [24]Archive | [25]Submissions | [26]Index | [27]Search | [28]Calendar | [29]RSS | [30]Education | [31]About APOD | [32]Discuss | [33]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [34]Robert Nemiroff ([35]MTU) & [36]Jerry Bonnell ([37]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [38]Specific rights apply. [39]NASA Web Privacy, [40]Accessibility, [41]Notices; A service of: [42]ASD at [43]NASA / [44]GSFC, [45]NASA Science Activation & [46]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2412/NGC4753_HubbleReinartz_3900.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.esa.int/ 5. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble 6. mailto: areinartz89 at gmail dot com 7. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://preview.redd.it/bp1czz6s0tx51.jpg?auto=webp&s=3619b12d7db6dbc232addfd27eabeb9c866de019 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_4753 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241218.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241126.html 11. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992AJ....104.1339S/abstract 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_galaxy 13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240616.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ 16. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992AJ....104.1339S/abstract 17. https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2403/ 18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_halo 19. https://science.nasa.gov/universe/overview/building-blocks/#dark-matter 20. https://esahubble.org/images/potw2420a/ 21. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves/ 22. https://youtu.be/CHhiJoOcInY 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241230.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 29. https://apod.com/feed.rss 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 32. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=241231 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250101.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 37. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 39. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 40. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 42. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 43. https://www.nasa.gov/ 44. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 45. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 46. http://www.mtu.edu/