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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 June 27   
      
                                    Messier 109   
                       Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Eder   
      
      Explanation: Big beautiful barred spiral galaxy Messier 109 is the   
      109th entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog of bright Nebulae and   
      Star Clusters. You can find it just below the Big Dipper's bowl in the   
      northern constellation Ursa Major. In fact, bright dipper star Phecda,   
      Gamma Ursa Majoris, produces the glare at the upper right corner of   
      this telescopic frame. M109's prominent central bar gives the galaxy   
      the appearance of the Greek letter "theta", +., a common mathematical   
      symbol representing an angle. M109 spans a very small angle in planet   
      Earth's sky though, about 7 arcminutes or 0.12 degrees. But that small   
      angle corresponds to an enormous 120,000 light-year diameter at the   
      galaxy's estimated 60 million light-year distance. The brightest member   
      of the now recognized Ursa Major galaxy cluster, M109 (aka NGC 3992) is   
      joined by spiky foreground stars. Three small, fuzzy bluish galaxies   
      also on the scene, identified (top to bottom) as UGC 6969, UGC 6940 and   
      UGC 6923, are possibly satellite galaxies of the larger barred spiral   
      galaxy Messier 109.   
      
                         Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.   
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                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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