Space photo of the day 06/30. Spiral galaxy known as Messier 66 or NGC 3627.

Ain’t it purty? OK.  I’ve been to too many Oklahoma! rehearsals. But it is beautiful.

Space photo of the day 06/30

SA/JPL-Caltech/R. Kennicutt/University of Arizona and the SINGS Team

http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Space-Photos-of-the-Day/Space-photos-of-the-day-06-30/%28photo%29/8

June 30, 2010

This image of spiral galaxy NGC 3627, also known as Messier 66, was captured by the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxy Survey Legacy Project. NGC 3627 is estimated to be 30 million light-years away, towards the constellation Leo. Astronomers suspect that the galaxy’s distorted shape is caused by its ongoing gravitational interactions with its neighbors Messier 65 and NGC 3628. NGC 3627 is another brilliant example of a barred spiral galaxy, the most common type of disk galaxy in the local universe.