Explanation:
Large spiral galaxy NGC 1055 (top left) joins
spiral M77 in this
lovely
cosmic view toward the
constellation
Cetus.
The narrowed, dusty appearance of edge-on spiral NGC 1055
contrasts nicely with the face-on view of
M77's bright nucleus
and spiral arms.
Both over 100,000 light-years across, the pair are dominant members
of a small galaxy group about 60 million light-years away.
At that estimated distance,
M77 is one
of the most remote objects in
Charles
Messier's catalog and
is separated from fellow island universe NGC 1055 by at
least 500,000 light-years.
The mosaicked field is about the size of the full Moon
on the sky and
includes colorful foreground Milky Way stars (with diffraction
spikes)
along with more distant background galaxies.
