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 March 16 [2]A spiral galaxy fills the frame with a white center in the middle. Two bright arms spiral out from the center filled with red nebulas along their spines and surrounded by bright blue star clusters. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. NGC 1566: The Spanish Dancer Galaxy Image Credit: [3]ESA/Hubble & [4]NASA, [5]D. Calzetti & the [6]LEGUS [7]Team, [8]R. Chandar Explanation: If not perfect, then this [9]spiral galaxy is at least one of the most photogenic. An [10]island universe containing billions of stars and situated about 40 million light-years away toward the constellation of the Dolphinfish ([11]Dorado), [12]NGC 1566 presents a gorgeous [13]face-on view. Classified as a [14]grand design spiral, NGC 1566 shows two prominent and graceful spiral arms that are traced by bright [15]blue star clusters, [16]red emission nebulas, and dark [17]cosmic dust lanes. Numerous [18]Hubble Space Telescope images of [19]NGC 1566 have been taken to study [20]star formation, [21]supernovas, and the spiral's [22]unusually active center. [23]NGC 1566's flaring center makes the spiral one of the closest and brightest [24]Seyfert galaxies, likely housing a central [25]supermassive black hole wreaking havoc on [26]surrounding stars and gas. Sky Surprise: [27]What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (after 1995) Tomorrow's picture: open space __________________________________________________________________ [28]< | [29]Archive | [30]Submissions | [31]Index | [32]Search | [33]Calendar | [34]RSS | [35]Education | [36]About APOD | [37]Discuss | [38]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [39]Robert Nemiroff ([40]MTU) & [41]Jerry Bonnell ([42]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [43]Specific rights apply. [44]NASA Web Privacy, [45]Accessibility, [46]Notices; A service of: [47]ASD at [48]NASA / [49]GSFC, [50]NASA Science Activation & [51]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2603/SpanishDancer_Hubble_3716.jpg 3. https://esahubble.org/ 4. https://www.nasa.gov/ 5. https://www.umass.edu/astronomy/about/directory/daniela-calzetti 6. https://legus.stsci.edu/legus_survey.html 7. https://legus.stsci.edu/team.html 8. https://www.utoledo.edu/nsm/physast/people/rupali-chandar.html 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_galaxy 10. http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March02/Gordon/Gordon2.html 11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorado 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_1566 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010427.html 14. http://burro.cwru.edu/Academics/Astr222/Galaxies/Spiral/spiral.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200909.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250917.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151119.html 18. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/ 19. https://esahubble.org/images/potw2344a/ 20. https://science.nasa.gov/universe/stars/ 21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8en5uDqw0aM 22. https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1184409133/photo/happy-dog-making-mess-with-papers-on-bed.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=HIvJz4ifaBEf3DWHBip9y7tWjdajJHbEnu3hBWlkYis= 23. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019MNRAS.483L..88P/abstract 24. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seyfert_galaxy 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181203.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190427.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260315.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 32. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 34. https://apod.com/feed.rss 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 37. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=260316 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260317.html 39. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 40. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 41. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 42. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 43. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 44. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 45. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 46. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 47. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 48. https://www.nasa.gov/ 49. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 50. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 51. http://www.mtu.edu/