Spiral galaxy NGC 3627, composite image. This spiral galaxy, also known as M66, is located about 30 million light years from Earth in the constellatio

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Spiral galaxy NGC 3627, composite image. This spiral galaxy, also known as M66, is located about 30 million light years from Earth in the constellation of Leo. It is around 95 thousand light years across. This composite image consists of X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope (red), and optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope (yellow). The central region of the galaxy contains a bright X-ray source, likely due to material falling onto a supermassive black hole. The spiral arms include dust lanes and bright star clusters. Image published in 2012.

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Size: 2995px × 2995px
Photo credit: © NASA/JPL-CALTECH/CXC/OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY/C. GRIER ET AL./STSCI/ESO/WFI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -ray, 2012, 3627, arms, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, black, centre, chandra, combined, composite, cxo, galactic, galaxy, hole, hst, hubble, infrared, large, leo, m66, ngc, observatory, optical, space, spiral, spitzer, sst, supermassive, telescope, universe, visible, vla, xray