APOD: NGC 5905 and NGC 5908

Two galaxies, NGC 5905 and 5908, are meeting in the constellation Draco. Each is about 140 million light-years away from Earth, and about 500,000 light-years away from each other. Both are spiral galaxies viewed from different angles, showcasing the variety of possible images that can be seen when viewing these galaxies. NGC 5905 has several bright star clusters branching out from its central bar. 5908 is viewed on edge; the central nucleus can be seen as very bright, partially obscured by a dark line indicative of its disk. NGC 5908 is very similar to another spiral galaxy, the Sombrero Galaxy, whose shape is caused by an unusually large central group of stars, giving it a "hat-like" appearence

APOD- Spiral Galaxy in Triangulum.

The constellation Triangulum, called the Nile delta, Deltotum, or the Island of Sicily by the ancients, is home to M33, a spiral galaxy sometimes called the Pinwheel Galaxy or simply the Triangulum Galaxy. It was probably discovered by Hodierna prior to 1654, but was independently discovered by Charles Messier in 1764 and made a part of his grouping of Messier, or M-, objects. M33 is over 50,000 light-years in diameter, making it the third-largest in our Local Galactic Sector, after Andromeda and our own Milky Way. M33 is actually approaching our galaxy at a rate of about 182 km/s or more accurately, wuth regards to motion around the galactic center, around 24 km/s.

APOD- Central IC 1805

Cosmic clouds, large clouds of dust and other small particles that are shaped by stellar winds and other forces. IC 1805's cloud is shaped by stellar wind and radiation emitting from the nearby newborn star cluster that forms part of the nebula, called Melotte 15. The dark knots of dust known as "Bok Globules" are contrasted by brightly glowing clouds of radioactive materials. The overall view of IC 1805 gives it its common name- the Heart Nebula, located near the Soul Nebula (IC 1848) in the Perseus Sector. Overall, it is located some 7500 light-years from the constellation away from Earth, towards the constellation Cassiopeai.

APOD- Messier 110

The last object in the Messier catalogue of astronomical bodies is M110, a dwarf elliptical galaxy which is actually a satellite of the much-large Andromeda galaxy. M110, also known as NGC205, is part of a group of galaxies known as the Local Group, including the Milky Way and its neighbouring galaxies within 5 million light years. M110 is about 11,000 light years across. Though dwarf elliptical galaxies such as M110 are usually thought yo be too small to contain enough gasses for the formation of new stars, M110 is actually known to contain the materials for some young stars.

APOD- Extra Galaxies

Near Ursa Major, several galaxies have been photographed. One in particular, NGC3718, is a spiral galaxy also known as Arp 214, and notable for its distinctive twisting and spiralling arms. The strange appearence of the galaxy is likely due to the gravitational interaction with a fairly nearby galaxy, NGC3729, a mere 150,000 light-years away. The pair are about 52 million light-years away from our galax. Another compact group of galaxies known as a Hickson group, Hickson group 56, is visible in the photo just underneath NGC3718. However, Hickson 56 is actually over 400 million light-years away, and consists of about 5 full-sized galaxies.