Subj : Daily APOD Report
To   : All
From : Alan Ianson
Date : Wed Dec 28 2022 05:41:08

                        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 December 28

                                 Messier 88
   Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block, Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, U. Arizona

   Explanation: Charles Messier described the 88th entry in his 18th
   century catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters as a spiral nebula without
   stars. Of course the gorgeous M88 is now understood to be a galaxy full
   of stars, gas, and dust, not unlike our own Milky Way. In fact, M88 is
   one of the brightest galaxies in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster some 50
   million light-years away. M88's beautiful spiral arms are easy to trace
   in this sharp cosmic portait. The arms are lined with young blue star
   clusters, pink star-forming regions, and obscuring dust lanes extending
   from a yellowish core dominated by an older population of stars. Spiral
   galaxy M88 spans over 100,000 light-years.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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