Some 50 million light-years distant, spiral galaxy NGC 2841 can be found in the
northern constellation of Ursa Major. This view of the gorgeous island universe
shows off a striking yellow nucleus and galactic disk with tightly wound spiral arms.
NGC 2841 has a diameter of over 150,000 light-years, even larger than our own Milky
Way Galaxy. The galaxy's dust lanes and turbulent star-forming regions are found
along the spiral arms, but X-ray images suggest that resulting winds and stellar
explosions create plumes of hot gas extending into a halo around NGC 2841. Of
course, the prominent stars with a spiky appearance in the picture are close
foreground objects within the Milky Way and not associated with NGC 2841.
[Text from APOD]