Explanation:
Spiral galaxy NGC 2903 is only some 20 million light-years distant
in the constellation Leo.
One of the brighter galaxies visible from the
northern hemisphere, it is surprisingly
missing from
Charles Messier's famous catalog of celestial
sights.
This impressively
sharp color image shows off the
galaxy's beautiful blue spiral arms.
Included in the ground-based telescopic view are intriguing
details of NGC 2903's central
regions -- a remarkable mix
of old and young star clusters with immense dust and gas clouds.
In fact,
NGC 2903 exhibits an exceptional rate of star formation
activity near its center, also bright in radio,
infrared, ultraviolet, and x-ray
bands.
Just a little smaller than our own Milky Way,
NGC 2903 is about 80,000 light-years across.
