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                           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 March 12   
       A dark field is filled with stars and galaxies. A large spiral galaxy   
       appears on the upper left. Toward the right, there is a smaller fuzzy   
      patch that is a comet with a short tail. Please see the explanation for   
                            more detailed information.   
      
                          NGC 772: The Fiddlehead Galaxy   
      Image Credit & Copyright: Jean-Fran+ºois Bax & Serge Brunier, OCA/C2PU;   
                      Text: Ogetay Kayali (Michigan Tech U.)   
      
      Explanation: Why does this galaxy look like a curly vegetable? The   
      Fiddlehead spiral galaxy likely gets its distorted spiral appearance   
      from a gravitational interaction with its close-by elliptical companion   
      NGC 770, seen just below. Cataloged as NGC 772 and Arp 78, the   
      Fiddlehead spans over 200,000 light years, is a nearby 100 million   
      light years beyond the stars of our Milky Way galaxy, and is visible   
      toward the constellation of the Ram (Aries). But in the featured image,   
      the Fiddlehead appears to have another companion -- one with a long and   
      fuzzy tail: Comet 43P/Wolf-Harrington. Though the comet appears to be   
      aimed straight at the massive galaxy, it is actually much closer to us,   
      residing only light minutes away -- well within our Solar System. The   
      comet will never reach the distant spiral galaxy, nor is it physically   
      related to it. By a fortunate trick of perspective, though, these two   
      cosmic wonders briefly share the same frame taken late last year from   
      Calern, France.   
      
                          Tomorrow's picture: open space   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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