Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Leo (Leo)  ·  Contains:  NGC 2903
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NGC 2903, jnelson5474
NGC 2903
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NGC 2903

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NGC 2903, jnelson5474
NGC 2903
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NGC 2903

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Description

NGC 2903 is a barred spiral galaxy that surprisingly was not cataloged by Messier and was left to be first documented  by William Herschel in 1784.  Located at a distance of approximately 24 million light years in the constellation Leo,  it is part of the Virgo Supercluster which includes the Milky Way and Andromeda,  measuring roughly 2/3 the size of the Milky Way.  It is classified as a "field galaxy" which are isolated galaxies  that are unaffected by neighboring gravitational forces  and  follow a different evolutionary pathway than galaxy clusters.  They typically have a low surface brightness, symmetrical spiral arms, and usually a low rate of star formation. NGC 2903, on the other hand, demonstrates very active star formation. The blue regions in the spiral arms represent large clusters of hot young stars in addition to the pinkish-red star forming regions.

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NGC 2903, jnelson5474