Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

NGC 253: The Sculptor Galaxy

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 9, 1998 is “NGC 253: The Sculptor Galaxy,” an image. It is credited to Credit: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/ STScI/ NASA). The original explanation runs about 112 words.

NGC 253: The Sculptor Galaxy
Credit: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/ STScI/ NASA) Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“NGC 253 is not only one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible, it is also one of the dustiest . Discovered in 1783 by Caroline Herschel in the constellation of Sculptor , NGC 253 lies only about ten million light-years distant.”

— APOD editors, December 9, 1998

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 9, 1998
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/ STScI/ NASA)
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 112 words

All of December 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: December 9 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.