Subj : Daily APOD Report
To   : All
From : Alan Ianson
Date : Mon Feb 21 2022 00:07:40

                        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 February 21

                        Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 6217
            Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team

   Explanation: Many spiral galaxies have bars across their centers. Even
   our own Milky Way Galaxy is thought to have a modest central bar.
   Prominently barred spiral galaxy NGC 6217, featured here, was captured
   in spectacular detail in this image taken by the Advanced Camera for
   Surveys on the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope in 2009. Visible are
   dark filamentary dust lanes, young clusters of bright blue stars, red
   emission nebulas of glowing hydrogen gas, a long bar of stars across
   the center, and a bright active nucleus that likely houses a
   supermassive black hole. Light takes about 60 million years to reach us
   from NGC 6217, which spans about 30,000 light years across and can be
   found toward the constellation of the Little Bear (Ursa Minor).

                   Tomorrow's picture: quasar illustrated
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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