Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Hercules Galaxies

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 27, 1998 is “Hercules Galaxies,” an image. It is credited to Credit: Dr. Victor Andersen ( University of Alabama, KPNO) Courtesy W. Keel. The original explanation runs about 151 words.

Hercules Galaxies
Credit: Dr. Victor Andersen ( University of Alabama, KPNO) Courtesy W. Keel Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“These are galaxies of the Hercules Cluster , an archipelago of “island universes” a mere 650 million light-years distant. This cluster is loaded with gas and dust rich, star forming, spiral galaxies but has relatively few elliptical galaxies , which lack gas and dust and the associated newborn stars .”

— APOD editors, August 27, 1998

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
August 27, 1998
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Dr. Victor Andersen ( University of Alabama, KPNO) Courtesy W. Keel
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 151 words

All of August 1998 → · 1998 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

Galaxies

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: August 27 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.