Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2026 January 29 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Mike Selby Explanation: [5]Distorted galaxy NGC 2442 can be found in the southern constellation of the flying fish, (Piscis) [6]Volans. Located about 50 million light-years away, the galaxy's two spiral arms extending from a pronounced central bar give it a hook-shaped appearance in this deep and colorful image, with foreground stars scattered across the telescopic field of view. The image also reveals the distant galaxy's obscuring dust lanes, young blue star clusters and [7]reddish star forming regions surrounding a core of yellowish light from an older population of stars. But the star forming regions seem more concentrated along the drawn-out (upper right) [8]spiral arm. The distorted structure is likely the result of an ancient [9]close encounter with a smaller galaxy that lies off top left of the frame. [10]This telescopic field of view spans over 200,000 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 2442. Tomorrow's picture: stardust __________________________________________________________________ [11]< | [12]Archive | [13]Submissions | [14]Index | [15]Search | [16]Calendar | [17]RSS | [18]Education | [19]About APOD | [20]Discuss | [21]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell ([25]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [26]Specific rights apply. [27]NASA Web Privacy, [28]Accessibility, [29]Notices; A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC, [33]NASA Science Activation & [34]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/NGC-2442-rev-1-crop-18-Jan-2026_2048.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://throughlightandtime.com/about/ 5. https://esahubble.org/news/heic1108/ 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volans 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061123.html 8. http://cass.ucsd.edu/public/tutorial/Galaxies.html 9. http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9701015 10. https://throughlightandtime.com/ngc-2442-lrgb-ha-rev-1-crop-cdk-1000-18-jan-2026/ 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260128.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 17. https://apod.com/feed.rss 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 20. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=260129 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260130.html 22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 28. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 29. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 33. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 34. http://www.mtu.edu/