                        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.

                                2023 April 1

                         NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans
           Image Credit & Copyright: Nicolas Rolland, Martin Pugh

   Explanation: Distorted galaxy NGC 2442 can be found in the southern
   constellation of the flying fish, (Piscis) Volans. Located about 50
   million light-years away, the galaxy's two spiral arms extending from a
   pronounced central bar give it a hook-shaped appearance in this deep
   colorful image, with spiky foreground stars scattered across the
   telescopic field of view. The image also reveals the distant galaxy's
   obscuring dust lanes, young blue star clusters and reddish star forming
   regions surrounding a core of yellowish light from an older population
   of stars. But the star forming regions seem more concentrated along the
   drawn-out (upper right) spiral arm. The distorted structure is likely
   the result of an ancient close encounter with the smaller galaxy seen
   near the top left of the frame. The two interacting galaxies are
   separated by about 150,000 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC
   2442.

                       Tomorrow's picture: Messier 57
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