说明: 巨大美丽的螺旋星系NGC 7331，常被说成是我们银河系的翻版。NGC 7331位在北天的飞马座内，离我们有五千万光年远。NGC 7331在很久之前就被分类为螺旋星云，而且是十八世纪梅西叶编著名的星表时，没有收录的较明亮星系之一。因为沿我们视线方向，这个星系是斜对著我们，因此望远镜深空影像常能呈现鲜明的层次感。在这幅精选的星野影像裡，这个美丽的宇宙岛在后方星系的衬托之下，层次感更加强烈。因为背景星系的视觉大小约是 NGC 7331的十分之一，也因此它们的距离大约也是十倍远，所以它们只是凑巧和 NGC 7331位在同一天区而已。这群视觉上的星系组合被称为是Deer Lick星系群。
Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is often touted as an analog to our own Milky Way. About 50 million light-years distant in the northern constellation Pegasus, NGC 7331 was recognized early on as a spiral nebula and is actually one of the brighter galaxies not included in Charles Messier's famous 18th century catalog. Since the galaxy's disk is inclined to our line-of-sight, long telescopic exposures often result in an image that evokes a strong sense of depth. The effect is further enhanced in this well-framed view by the galaxies that lie beyond this gorgeous island universe. The background galaxies are about one tenth the apparent size of NGC 7331 and so lie roughly ten times farther away. Their strikingly close alignment on the sky with NGC 7331 occurs just by chance. The visual grouping of galaxies is also known as the Deer Lick Group.
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