If not perfect, then this spiral galaxy [ http://www.seds.org…] is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe [ http://www.netlabs.…] of about 100 billion stars, 30 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces [ http://www.allthesk…constell.html ], NGC 628 or M74 presents [ http://sirtf.caltec…m74.html ] a gorgeous face-on view [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] to earthbound astronomers. Classified [ http://nedwww.ipac.…Haynes1.html ] as an Sc galaxy, the grand design [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of M74's graceful spiral arms traced by bright blue star clusters [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and dark cosmic dust lanes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], is similar in many respects to our own home galaxy, the Milky Way [ http://home.arcor-o…]. Recorded with a 28 million pixel [ http://www.computer…popup_definition.php ?lookup=3909 ] detector array, this impressive image celebrates first light [ http://www.gemini.e…2001-2.html ] for the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS [ http://www.gemini.e…gmos/gmosIndex.html ]), a state-of-the-art instrument now operational at the 8-meter Gemini North [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] telescope. The Gemini North Observatory gazes into the skies above Mauna Kea [ http://www.ifa.hawa…], Hawaii, USA, while its twin observatory, Gemini South [ http://www.conicyt.…], is scheduled to begin operations later this year from Cerro Pachón in central Chile.
