NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Sep 14, 2023

NGC 7331 and Beyond

Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is often touted as an analog to our own Milky Way. About 50 million light-years distant in the northern constellation Pegasus, NGC 7331 was recognized early on as a spiral nebula and is actually one of the brighter galaxies not included in Charles Messier's famous 18th century catalog. Since the galaxy's disk is inclined to our line-of-sight, long telescopic exposures often result in images that evokes a strong sense of depth. The effect is further enhanced in this sharp image by galaxies that lie beyond the gorgeous island universe. The most prominent background galaxies are about one tenth the apparent size of NGC 7331 and so lie roughly ten times farther away. Their close alignment on the sky with NGC 7331 occurs just by chance. Lingering above the plane of the Milky Way, this striking visual grouping of galaxies is known to some as the Deer Lick Group.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?

Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Independent Study Report

This media briefing is a discussion about the report published by the unidentified anomalous phenomena independent study team we commissioned in 2022.

The team’s report aims to inform us on what possible data could be collected in the future to shed light on the nature and origin of UAPs. Briefing participants include:

· NASA Administrator Bill Nelson

· Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington

· Dan Evans, assistant deputy associate administrator for research, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate

· David Spergel, president, Simons Foundation and chair of NASA’s UAP independent study team

The UAP independent study team is a counsel of 16 community experts across diverse areas on matters relevant to potential methods of study for UAP. We commissioned the nine-month study to examine UAP from a scientific perspective and create a roadmap for how to use data and the tools of science to move our understanding of UAP forward. Right now, the limited high-quality observations of UAP make it impossible to draw scientific conclusions from the data about the nature of such events.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idJKLP5hcuQ