                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

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                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2026 March 21

                Galaxies in the River: NGC 1300 and NGC 1297
            Image Credit & Copyright: Dietmar Hager, Eric Benson

   Explanation: Spiral NGC 1300 and elliptical NGC 1297 are galaxies that
   lie on the banks of the southern constellation Eridanus (The River). At
   70 million light-years distant or more, both are members of the
   Eridanus Galaxy Cluster. About 100,000 light-years across, at lower
   left in this sharp, galaxy group photo NGC 1300 is seen face-on with a
   prominent central bar and grand, sweeping spiral arms. Like other
   spiral galaxies, including our own barred spiral Milky Way Galaxy, NGC
   1300 is thought to have a supermassive central black hole. A contrast
   in appearance and slightly more distant, NGC 1297 is the roughly
   spherical large elliptical galaxy near the top of the frame. With
   little active star formation, elliptical galaxies are composed of older
   populations of stars and are likely he result of multiple collisions
   and mergers with spirals.

                  Tomorrow's picture: farewell fair planet
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