What’s happening in the center of nearby spiral galaxy M77? The face-on galaxy lies a mere 47 million light-years away toward the constellation of the Sea Monster ( Cetus ). At that estimated distance, this gorgeous island universe is about 100 thousand light-years across. Also known as NGC 1068 , its compact and very bright core is well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of supermassive black holes in active Seyfert galaxies . M77’s active core glows bright at x-ray , ultraviolet , visible , infrared , and radio wavelengths. The featured sharp image of M77 was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope . The image shows details of the spiral’s winding spiral arms as traced by obscuring red dust clouds and blue star clusters , all circling the galaxy’s bright white luminous center . Free APOD Lecture in Phoenix: Wednesday, December 10 at 7 pm Image Credit: Hubble , NASA , ESA , L. C. Ho , D. Thilker https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2025-december-2-m77-spiral-galaxy-with-an-active-center/