                        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.

                               2022 November 3
    The featured image shows steam rising from several separated vents at
    Hverir, a geothermally active field in Iceland. Green aurora rage in
        the background. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

                         M33: The Triangulum Galaxy
            Image Credit & Copyright: Processing - Robert Gendler
   Data - Hubble Legacy Archive, KPNO, NOIRLab, NSF, Aura, Amateur Sources

   Explanation: The small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this
   magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, M33. Its popular names include the
   Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum Galaxy. M33 is over 50,000
   light-years in diameter, third largest in the Local Group of galaxies
   after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and our own Milky Way. About 3
   million light-years from the Milky Way, M33 is itself thought to be a
   satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy and astronomers in these two galaxies
   would likely have spectacular views of each other's grand spiral star
   systems. As for the view from the Milky Way, this sharp image combines
   data from telescopes on and around planet Earth to show off M33's blue
   star clusters and pinkish star forming regions along the galaxy's
   loosely wound spiral arms. In fact, the cavernous NGC 604 is the
   brightest star forming region, seen here at about the 1 o'clock
   position from the galaxy center. Like M31, M33's population of
   well-measured variable stars have helped make this nearby spiral a
   cosmic yardstick for establishing the distance scale of the Universe.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

