Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

NGC 253: The Sculptor Galaxy

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for March 16, 2003 is “NGC 253: The Sculptor Galaxy,” an image. It is credited to Credit: A. Watson ( UNAM ) et al., Hubble Heritage Team ( STScI / AURA ), NASA. The original explanation runs about 113 words.

NGC 253: The Sculptor Galaxy
Credit: A. Watson ( UNAM ) et al., Hubble Heritage Team ( STScI / AURA ), 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, March 16, 2003

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
March 16, 2003
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: A. Watson ( UNAM ) et al., Hubble Heritage Team ( STScI / AURA ), NASA
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 113 words

All of March 2003 → · 2003 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

Galaxies

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: March 16 in other years

On Amazon

Popular picks for space fans

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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.