Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Giant Galaxy NGC 6872

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 3, 2011 is “Giant Galaxy NGC 6872,” an image. It is credited to Image Credit: Sydney Girls High School Astronomy Club, Travis Rector ( Univ. Alaska ), Ángel López-Sánchez (Australian Astronomical Obs./ Macquarie Univ.), Australian Gemini Office. The original explanation runs about 205 words.

Giant Galaxy NGC 6872
Credit: Image Credit: Sydney Girls High School Astronomy Club, Travis Rector ( Univ. Alaska ), Ángel López-Sánchez (Australian Astronomical Obs./ Macquarie Univ.), Australian Gemini Office Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Over 400,000 light years across NGC 6872 is an enormous spiral galaxy , at least 4 times the size of our own very large Milky Way.”

— APOD editors, April 3, 2011

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
April 3, 2011
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Image Credit: Sydney Girls High School Astronomy Club, Travis Rector ( Univ. Alaska ), Ángel López-Sánchez (Australian Astronomical Obs./ Macquarie Univ.), Australian Gemini Office
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 205 words

All of April 2011 → · 2011 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

The Milky WayGalaxies

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: April 3 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.