Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Stephan's Quintet

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 18, 2021 is “Stephan's Quintet,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Image Credit: NASA , ESA , Hubble Legacy Archive ; Processing & Copyright: Bernard Miller). The original explanation runs about 180 words.

Stephan's Quintet
Credit: Image Credit: NASA , ESA , Hubble Legacy Archive ; Processing & Copyright: Bernard Miller Copyrighted Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“The first identified compact galaxy group, Stephan’s Quintet is featured in this eye-catching image constructed with data drawn from the extensive Hubble Legacy Archive . About 300 million light-years away, only four of these five galaxies are actually locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters.”

— APOD editors, December 18, 2021

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 18, 2021
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Image Credit: NASA , ESA , Hubble Legacy Archive ; Processing & Copyright: Bernard Miller
Copyright
Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 180 words

All of December 2021 → · 2021 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

GalaxiesHubble Space Telescope

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: December 18 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.