Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

NGC 772: The Fiddlehead Galaxy

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for March 12, 2025 is “NGC 772: The Fiddlehead Galaxy,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Image Credit & Copyright: Jean-François Bax & Serge Brunier , OCA/C2PU ; Text: Ogetay Kayali (Michigan Tech U.)). The original explanation runs about 169 words.

A dark field is filled with stars and galaxies. A large spiral galaxy appears on the upper left. Toward the right, there is a smaller fuzzy patch that is a comet with a short tail. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Jean-François Bax & Serge Brunier , OCA/C2PU ; Text: Ogetay Kayali (Michigan Tech U.) Copyrighted Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Why does this galaxy look like a curly vegetable ? The Fiddlehead spiral galaxy likely gets its distorted spiral appearance from a gravitational interaction with its close-by elliptical companion NGC 770 , seen just below.”

— APOD editors, March 12, 2025

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
March 12, 2025
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Jean-François Bax & Serge Brunier , OCA/C2PU ; Text: Ogetay Kayali (Michigan Tech U.)
Copyright
Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 169 words

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Topics in this entry

GalaxiesComets

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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.