Astronomy Picture of the Day

Explanation: Over 500,000 light years across, NGC 6872(bottom left) is a trulyenormous barred spiral galaxy.At least 5 times the size of our own large Milky Way,NGC 6872 is the largestknown spiral galaxy.About 200 million light-years distant toward the southern constellation Pavo, the Peacock,the appearance of this giant galaxy'sstretched out spiral arms suggest the wings of a giant bird.So its popular moniker is the Condor galaxy.Lined with massive young, bluish star clusters andstar-forming regions,the extended and distorted spiral arms aredue to NGC 6872's past gravitational interactions with the nearby smallergalaxy IC 4970,visible here below the giant spiral galaxy's core.Other members of the southernPavo galaxy groupare scattered through thismagnificent galaxy group portrait,with the dominant giant elliptical galaxy, NGC 6876,above and right of the soaring Condor galaxy.