NGC 289: Swirl in the Southern Sky
About 70 million light-years distant, gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 289 is larger
than our
own Milky Way.
Seen nearly face-on, its bright core and colorful central disk give way
to remarkably faint, bluish spiral arms.
The extensive
arms sweep well over 100 thousand light-years from the galaxy's center.
At the lower right in this sharp,
telescopic
galaxy portrait the
main spiral arm seems to
encounter a small, fuzzy elliptical
companion galaxy interacting with enormous NGC 289.
Of course the spiky stars are in the foreground of the scene.
They lie within the Milky Way toward the southern constellation
Sculptor.