Our celebration of the beauty of our universe continues with more glimpses at the marvels of the cosmos. We previously brought you 10 amazing Hubble Space Telescope pictures and 7 spectacular space photos; here are 7 gorgeous galaxies to quench your thirst for galactic eye candy.
Leave a comment letting us know which image is your favorite!
At 170,000 light-years across, the Messier 101 galaxy is nearly twice the diameter of the Milky Way and home to an estimated one trillion stars.
The Sombrero galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on when viewed from Earth, giving it the appearance of a broad-rimmed hat.
The “grand design” spiral galaxy M81 is one of the brightest that can be seen from Earth.
The Whirlpool Galaxy is locked in a tug-of-war with its small companion galaxy.
Spiral galaxy M74 appears nearly face-on when viewed from Earth and displays astounding symmetry.
We’ve looked at spiral galaxy M106 before, but this image doesn’t highlight the extra pair of arms that glow in X-ray, optical, and radio light.
NGC 1300 is considered to be the prototypical barred spiral galaxy. Differing from normal spiral galaxies, the arms of barred spirals do not spiral all the way to the center, but rather are connected to two ends of a straight bar that passes through the galactic center.