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. 2025 August 19 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Giant Galaxies in Pavo Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Adam Block Explanation: Over 500,000 light years across, [5]NGC 6872 (bottom left) is a truly [6]enormous barred spiral galaxy. At least 5 times the size of our own large Milky Way, [7]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 [8]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 [9]star-forming regions, the extended and distorted spiral arms are due to NGC 6872's past gravitational interactions with the nearby smaller [10]galaxy IC 4970, visible here below the giant spiral galaxy's core. Other members of the southern [11]Pavo galaxy group are scattered through this [12]magnificent galaxy group portrait, with the dominant giant elliptical galaxy, NGC 6876, above and right of the soaring Condor galaxy. Tomorrow's picture: meteor door __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy, [30]Accessibility, [31]Notices; A service of: [32]ASD at [33]NASA / [34]GSFC, [35]NASA Science Activation & [36]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2508/NGC6872_block.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.adamblockphotos.com/ 5. http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9924b/ 6. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007A&A...464..155H/abstract 7. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014ApJ...795...89E/abstract 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110403.html 9. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009ApJ...691.1921M/abstract 10. http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/ngc6872/ 11. https://www.astroexplorer.org/details/apj296376f1 12. https://www.adamblockphotos.com/ngc-6872.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250818.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.com/feed.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250819 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250820.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 32. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/ 34. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 35. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 36. http://www.mtu.edu/