Poster Version
Since its launch five years ago, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer has
photographed hundreds of millions of galaxies in ultraviolet light. M106
is one of those galaxies, and from 22 light years away, it strikes a pose
in blue and gold for this new commemorative portrait.
The galaxy's extended arms are the blue filaments that curve around its
edge, creating its outer disk. Tints of blue in M106's arms reveal hot,
young massive stars. Traces of gold toward the center show an older
stellar population and indicate the presence of obscuring dust.
From 24 million light-years away, neighboring galaxy NGC 4248 also
makes a memorable appearance, sitting just right of M106. The irregular
galaxy looks like a yellow smudge, with a bluish-white bar in the center.
The galaxy's outer golden glow indicates a population of older stars,
while the blue central region shows a younger stellar demographic.
Dwarf galaxy UGC 7365 emerges at the bottom center of this image, as a
faint yellow smudge directly below M106. This galaxy is not forming any
new stars, and looks much smaller than M106 despite being closer to Earth,
at 14 million light-years away.
Over the past five years, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer has imaged half
a billion objects over 27,000 square degrees of sky —equivalent to
an area that would be covered by 138,000 full moons. The telescope orbits
Earth every 94 minutes and travels approximately 408,470 million miles per
day. Its overarching question is: how do galaxies grow and change over 10
billion years of cosmic history?
M106, also known as NGC 4258, is located in the constellation Canes
Venatici. This image is a two-color composite, where far-ultraviolet light
is blue, and near-ultraviolet light is red.
