Explanation:
Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is
a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the
constellation Leo.
Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is
easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by
amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies,
like M66 and M65.
It's hard to overlook in
this colorful cosmic portrait, though.
Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports
characteristic
patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming
regions, and clusters of young, blue stars.
Remarkably, this deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in
gigantic bubble-like shells.
The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn
from satellite galaxies that have
undergone mergers
with NGC 3521 in the distant past.
Did you see it?:
Accounts of yesterday's bright sky event in the US Southwest are requested.
