Lowell Observatory astronomer Phil Massey and his graduate student research assistant Kathryn Neugen

Lowell Observatory astronomer Phil Massey and his graduate student research assistant Kathryn Neugent recently captured this spectacular image of a beautiful spiral galaxy known as M108 using the Discovery Channel Telescope. This image has not been photoshopped in any way; all that has been done is balancing the three colors to provide a close match to what would be seen by eye.

The dark splotches visible in the galaxy are regions of gas and dust silhouetted by the light of stars that lie behind them. Future generations of stars will be born from this material.

Because M108 is 50 million light years away it’s impossible to see individual stars in this galaxy, we see only their collective glow. The stars you see sprinkled across the image are actually in our own Milky Way galaxy. Like raindrops on a windowpane, these stars get in the way when we look out at more distant objects.

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