In today's image, we see the spiral galaxy known as Messier 51 in a very deep exposure consisting of 255 hours (more than 10 days!) worth of imaging. This allows us to see far more detail than would be visible in a shorter exposure. We can see the tidal streams around the galaxy as well as the red glow of hydrogen outside of this region.

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This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access the image and website directly at: Astronomy Picture of the Day. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

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