                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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 June 5

                        The Hydra Cluster of Galaxies
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Rafael Sampaio

   Explanation: Within our own Milky Way galaxy, two bright, spiky stars
   stand like sentinels in the foreground of this cosmic snapshot. Far
   beyond them are the galaxies of the Hydra Cluster. In fact, while the
   spiky foreground stars are hundreds of light-years distant, the Hydra
   Cluster galaxies are well over 100 million light-years away. Three
   large galaxies near the cluster center, two yellow ellipticals (NGC
   3311, NGC 3309) and one prominent blue spiral (NGC 3312), are the
   dominant galaxies, each about 150,000 light-years in diameter. An
   intriguing overlapping galaxy pair cataloged as NGC 3314 lies above and
   left of NGC 3312. Also known as Abell 1060, the Hydra galaxy cluster is
   one of three large galaxy clusters within 200 million light-years of
   the Milky Way. In the nearby universe, galaxies are gravitationally
   bound into clusters which themselves are loosely bound into
   superclusters. Superclusters in turn are seen to align over even larger
   scales.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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