I like all the galaxy pictures here (and since I'm a galaxy freak, I'm most likely to comment on galaxy pictures). Thanks to all who posted a galaxy picture here!
Jerry Loudriguss, thanks for showing us the emission nebulae of M101 so well!
Julian Merten, that's an impressive galaxy cluster. It shows us the different distribution dark and ordinary matter in the cluster too, I think.
Adam, I love that image. I totally love it. NGC 3310 is a really remarkable galaxy in that it is elegantly spiral-shaped and incredibly blue and ultraviolet. Usually only irregular galaxies are that blue and ultraviolet. I love how you bring out "so many shades of blue" in this galaxy: there is the inner spiral structure which lacks emission nebulae and which probably contains many bright red supergiants, so that the color is somewhat whitish (this may have something to do with a high surface brightness too, of course). There are two pink and blue arms bursting with emission nebulae and new stars. There are short arm segments which seem to lack emission nebulae but are extremely blue, as if all the stars in there were of spectral class B. There are scattered and far-flung bright pink and blue knots, sites of starbirth and ionized hydrogen. And there is this whole outer smooth structure which is relatively blue but not very, and which is probably dominated by stars of spectral classes A,F, and G. All in all, this is by far the best RGB image I've seen of this galaxy! I'm just saying!
Carlos Milovic, I love your image too. How fascinating! By bringing out the outer structure of the LMC, you make it look quite a bit like a spiral galaxy. It's like a spiral galaxy with a strong bar, surrounded by a ring structure. Thanks for showing us this aspect of the LMC!
Stefano Conti, NGC 4395 is another of my favorite galaxies, and I'm always happy to see it portrayed!
Gian Michele Ratto, I really love your two images of M81, M82 and NGC 3077. I'm really glad you included NGC 3077! And it's a lot of fun to see that intergalactic medium, or whatever it is called.
Torsten Grossman, M66 is a nice galaxy too, and I appreciate how you bring out so much of the galaxy's smooth outer structure.
Adam, NGC 5544 and 5545 are a delightful pair! I'm just saying! And so different. One a pink-and-blue starforming spiral, and one a serene, neutral-colored, almost impossibly regular spiral with no star formation.
Leonardo Orazo, M51 and NGC 5195 are always nice to look at. Personally I love a tiny incredibly blue background galaxy, which looks much like a tiny blue dog's bone. Your image brings out a faint smooth disk surrounding the "dog's bone", so I think we are seeing an incredibly bright blue galactic bar with enhanced star formation at the bar ends, surrounded by a smooth and relatively faint disk. It looks a bit like this:
Again, thanks for all the galaxy pictures!
Ann
