Galaxies in the River: NGC 1300 and NGC 1297
Image Credit & Copyright: Dietmar Hager and Eric Benson

Explanation: Spiral NGC 1300 and elliptical NGC 1297 are galaxies that lie on the banks of the southern constellation Eridanus (The River). At 70 million light-years distant or more, both are members of the Eridanus Galaxy Cluster. About 100,000 light-years across, at lower left in this sharp, galaxy group photo NGC 1300 is seen face-on with a prominent central bar and grand, sweeping spiral arms. Like other spiral galaxies, including our own barred spiral Milky Way Galaxy, NGC 1300 is thought to have a supermassive central black hole. A contrast in appearance and slightly more distant, NGC 1297 is the roughly spherical large elliptical galaxy near the top of the frame. With little active star formation, elliptical galaxies are composed of older populations of stars and are likely he result of multiple collisions and mergers with spirals.

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#LightPillars and #Orion over #Mohe
#Astronomy #Picture of the Day

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Pilars de llum i Orió sobre Mohe 👇

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Spring Equinox at Teide Observatory
Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado (Starry Earth, TWAN)

Explanation: The defining astronomical moment of the equinox today is at 14:46 UTC (March 20). That's when the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving north in its yearly journey through planet Earth's sky, marking the beginning of spring for our fair planet in the northern hemisphere and fall in the southern hemisphere. Then, day and night are nearly equal around the globe. In fact, both day and nighttime exposures from a spring equinox at the Observatorio del Teide in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, are used in this composited skyscape. Over 1,000 images were taken with a fisheye lens and merged in the ambitious equinox project. The apparent motion of the Sun setting along the celestial equator on the equinox date follows the bright linear, diagonal track from the sequence of daytime exposures taken over 6 hours. After sunset, nighttime exposures recorded startrails, with the celestial equator as a linear track and concentric arcs circling the north celestial pole near Polaris at upper right and the south celestial pole beyond the lower left edge (and below the Teide horizon). The foreground includes the distant Teide volcano peak and the observatory's pyramid-shaped solar laboratory building.

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