Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
NGC 5905 and 5908
Explanation:
These two [ http://www.photomee…060702ngc5908a_d.htm ] beautiful galaxies, NGC 5905 (left) and NGC 5908 lie about 140 million light-years distant in the northern constellation Draco [ http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Draco_(cons tellation) ]. Separated by about 500,000 light-years, the pair are actually both spiral galaxies [ http://cassfos02.uc…] and nicely illustrate the striking contrasts in appearance possible when viewing spirals [ http://www.noao.edu…spiral_galaxies.html ] from different perspectives. Seen face-on [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], NGC 5905 is clearly a spiral galaxy with bright star clusters tracing arms that wind outward from a prominent central bar [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Oriented edge-on [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] to our view, the spiral nature of NGC 5908 is revealed by a bright nucleus and dark band of obscuring dust characteristic of a spiral galaxy's disk. In fact, NGC 5908 is similar in appearance to the well studied edge-on spiral galaxy M104 - The Sombrero Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].
Credit and Copyright:
Stefan Seip [ http://www.photomee…astromeeting/_index. htm ]
facet_where:
M104
facet_where:
Sombrero Galaxy
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_what:
Draco
facet_what:
New General Catalogue (NGC)
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap060929

NGC 5905 and 5908
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