Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is often touted
as an analog to our own Milky Way. About 50 million
light-years distant in the northern constellation Pegasus, NGC 7331 was
recognized early on as a spiral
nebula and is actually one of the brighter galaxies not
included in Charles Messier's famous 18th century
catalog. Since the galaxy's disk is inclined to our
line-of-sight, long telescopic exposures often result in an image that evokes a
strong sense of depth. The effect is further enhanced in
this sharp image by galaxies that lie beyond the gorgeous island
universe. The background galaxies are about one tenth the apparent size of NGC 7331
and so lie roughly ten times farther away. Their close alignment on the sky with
NGC 7331 occurs just by chance. Seen here through faint foreground dust clouds
lingering above the plane of Milky Way, this visual grouping of galaxies is also known as the
Deer
Lick Group.
March 03, 2014
NGC 7331
Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is often touted
as an analog to our own Milky Way. About 50 million
light-years distant in the northern constellation Pegasus, NGC 7331 was
recognized early on as a spiral
nebula and is actually one of the brighter galaxies not
included in Charles Messier's famous 18th century
catalog. Since the galaxy's disk is inclined to our
line-of-sight, long telescopic exposures often result in an image that evokes a
strong sense of depth. The effect is further enhanced in
this sharp image by galaxies that lie beyond the gorgeous island
universe. The background galaxies are about one tenth the apparent size of NGC 7331
and so lie roughly ten times farther away. Their close alignment on the sky with
NGC 7331 occurs just by chance. Seen here through faint foreground dust clouds
lingering above the plane of Milky Way, this visual grouping of galaxies is also known as the
Deer
Lick Group.
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