                        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.

                                 2025 May 29

                      Irregular Dwarf Galaxy Sextans A
        Image Credit & Copyright: Franz Hofmann, Gemsbock Observatory

   Explanation: Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the attention,
   flaunting young, bright, blue star clusters and pinkish star forming
   regions along graceful, symmetric spiral arms. But small galaxies form
   stars too, like irregular dwarf galaxy Sextans A. Its young star
   clusters and star forming regions are gathered into a gumdrop-shaped
   region a mere 5,000 light-years across. Seen toward the navigational
   constellation Sextans, the small galaxy lies some 4.5 million
   light-years distant. That puts it near the outskirts of the local group
   of galaxies, that includes the large, massive spirals Andromeda and our
   own Milky Way. Brighter Milky Way foreground stars appear spiky and
   yellowish in this colorful telescopic view of Sextans A.

                    Tomorrow's picture: Mars in the loop
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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