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 19 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. IC 2574: Coddington's Nebula Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Dane Vetter Explanation: [5]Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory, flaunting their young, bright, blue star clusters in beautiful, symmetric [6]spiral arms. But small, irregular galaxies form stars too. In fact, [7]dwarf galaxy IC 2574 shows clear [8]evidence of intense star forming activity in its telltale reddish regions of glowing hydrogen gas. Just as in spiral galaxies, the [9]turbulent star-forming regions in IC 2574 are churned by [10]stellar winds and supernova explosions spewing material into the galaxy's interstellar medium and [11]triggering further star formation. A mere 12 million light-years distant, IC 2574 is part of the M81 group of galaxies, seen toward the northern constellation Ursa Major. Also known as Coddington's Nebula, the faint but intriguing [12]island universe is about 50,000 light-years across, discovered by American astronomer Edwin Coddington in 1898. Tomorrow's picture: in the dark __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy, [30]Accessibility, [31]Notices; A service of: [32]ASD at [33]NASA / [34]GSFC, [35]NASA Science Activation & [36]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2602/IC2574Vetter.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://app.astrobin.com/u/Dane_Vetter 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210813.html 6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080517.html 7. https://app.astrobin.com/u/Dane_Vetter?i=xti9o5 8. http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.0193 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240627.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250203.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111120.html 12. https://history.aip.org/exhibits/cosmology/ideas/island.htm 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260218.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.com/feed.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=260219 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260220.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 32. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/ 34. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 35. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 36. http://www.mtu.edu/