Spiral Galaxy NGC 5033
From NASA’s Astronomy
Picture of the Day
Magnificent island universe NGC 5033 lies some 40 million light-years away in the
well-trained northern constellation Canes Venatici.
The telescopic portrait below the break reveals striking details of dust
lanes winding near the galaxy's bright core and majestic but relatively faint
spiral arms.
Speckled with pink star forming regions and massive blue star clusters, the arms span over 100,000 light-years, similar in size to our own spiral Milky Way.
A well-studied example of the class of Seyfert active
galaxies, NGC 5033 has a core that is very bright
and variable.
The emission is likely powered by a supermassive black
hole.
The bright nucleus and rotational center of the galaxy also
seem to be slightly offset, suggesting NGC 5033 is the result of an ancient galaxy
merger.
