Galaxies

Galaxies are immense systems of stars, dust and gas into which nearly all of the visible matter in the Universe is collected.

NGC4565 is a well known example of a spiral galaxy seen in an "edge-on" view. Note the conspicuous nucleus or central bulge and the dark absorption lane. This galaxy is 25 million light years away.

NGC891 is another spiral galaxy that is seen "edge-on" as viewed from Earth.The tremendous dust lane runs the entire length of the galactic disk, splitting the nucleus nearly in half. It took the light from this galaxy 43 million years to reach Earth.

NGC6946, a beautiful spiral galaxy viewed "face-on", is 10 million light years away. The bright foreground stars are all in our Milky Way Galaxy.

M104, the Sombrero Galaxy, has a very large, bright nucleus and a dark band of interstellar dust. This huge galaxy is approximately 37 million light years away.

M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, lies about 20 million light years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. Visible in binoculars as a faint patch of light, the spiral arms and dust lanes of this face-on spiral galaxy become evident in medium size amateur telescopes.

M82 is an irregular galaxy in Ursa Major. Immense torrents of hydrogen gas are being hurtled outward at well over one million miles per hour from the central regions of this galaxy. This is one of the most spectacularly violent sites that we know of in the Universe.

M87 is a massive elliptical galaxy that has an optical jet hurtling outward from its central region. This jet and the galactic nucleus are both sources of vast amounts of nonthermal x-ray and radio radiation. This active galaxy's tremendous halo contains well over 100,000 globular clusters of stars.