# Pic of couple of beautiful galaxies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 16, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pic-of-couple-of-beautiful-galaxies/352881 "2006-04-16T15:26:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pic-of-couple-of-beautiful-galaxies/352881/1 "2006-04-16T15:26:58Z")
A NASA site has an “Astronomy Picture of the Day” which is well worth looking at even if you are not an astronomy freak as I, as there are some astounding and beautiful images. Anyhoo, yesterday’s was a striking shot thought I’d share. It may be pointless, but certainly not mundane. It is of two galaxies, M81 and M82 that can be seen with many good amateur telescopes, but pictures like this are something else. M81 is seen in full and is not unlike our own Milky Way Galaxy, and M82 is seen edge-on. Note for non-astronomers: all the stars seen in the black space are not out there where the galaxies are, but are stars in our own galaxy. We can’t get a picture without these stars being in the foreground unless we have a tripod big enough to reach outside our galaxy. 🙂 Actually, these two galaxies appear in pure black space. Galaxies like these have hundreds of billions of stars each. Nobody knows for sure, but there are probably hundreds of billions of galaxies out there. Pondering that should make your brain hurt. For a looksee, go [here](http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060415.html) and enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pic-of-couple-of-beautiful-galaxies/352881/2 "2006-04-16T15:30:53Z")
Here she comes, Miss Galaxy… [/singing] 😉