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 February 4
   [2]A spiral galaxy is shown that seems to have rings in place of spiral
     arms. The outer ring is blue and filled with stars, while the inner
       ring is more red. The center has a vertical bar. Please see the
                 explanation for more detailed information.

                     Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: Wide Field
                  Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Daniel Stern

   Explanation: Most galaxies don't have any rings -- why does this galaxy
   have three? To begin, a ring that's near [4]NGC 1512's center -- and so
   hard to see here -- is the [5]nuclear ring which glows brightly with
   recently formed [6]stars. Next out is a ring of stars and [7]dust
   appearing both red and blue, called, [8]counter-intuitively, the inner
   ring. This [9]inner ring connects ends of a diffuse [10]central bar of
   stars that runs horizontally across the galaxy. Farthest out in this
   wide field image is a ragged structure that might be considered an
   outer ring. This outer ring appears spiral-like and is dotted with
   [11]clusters of bright blue stars. All these ring structures are
   thought to be affected by [12]NGC 1512's own gravitational asymmetries
   in a drawn-out process called [13]secular [14]evolution. The featured
   image was captured last month from a telescope at [15]Deep Sky Chile in
   [16]Chile.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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    Authors & editors: [28]Robert Nemiroff ([29]MTU) & [30]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([31]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [32]Specific rights apply.
            [33]NASA Web Privacy, [34]Accessibility, [35]Notices;
                A service of: [36]ASD at [37]NASA / [38]GSFC,
                         [39]NASA Science Activation
                           & [40]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2602/NGC1512_stern_6214.jpg
   3. https://www.instagram.com/messierchaser/
   4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_1512
   5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170710.html
   6. https://science.nasa.gov/universe/stars/
   7. https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/d/Dust+Grain
   8. https://ru.fishki.net/picsw/112007/29/ugol/ugol_012.jpg
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220508.html
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221016.html
  11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_cluster
  12. https://esawebb.org/images/weic2403i/
  13. https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/s/Secular+Evolution
  14. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004ARA&A..42..603K/abstract
  15. https://youtu.be/i-qdANr8z3Y
  16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260203.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  21. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  23. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  26. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=260204
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260205.html
  28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  29. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  30. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  31. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  34. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  35. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  36. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  37. https://www.nasa.gov/
  38. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  39. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  40. http://www.mtu.edu/