When Apple released the latest version of its personal computer operating system, OS X 10.7 Lion, the stock desktop wallpaper was a picture of the Andromeda galaxy, but not without some very, very heavy modifications.
While pretty, Apple's "version" of Andromeda was something completely unfit for the purpose of astronomy. Now Apple's back at it again with its next version of OS X, dubbed Mountain Lion, as noted by MacObserver.
This is the image packed with early builds of Mountain Lion:
And here is the image as it is according to our scientific equipment courtesy of NASA:
In fact, this was a NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day, which came with the following description:
Some spiral galaxies are seen almost sideways. NGC 3190, one such galaxy, is the largest member of the Hickson 44 Group, one of the nearer groups of galaxies to our own Local Group of galaxies. Pictured above, finely textured dust lanes surround the brightly glowing center of this picturesque spiral. Gravitational tidal interactions with other members of its group have likely caused the spiral arms of NGC 3190 to appear asymmetric around the center, while the galactic disk also appears warped. NGC 3190 spans about 75,000 light years across and is visible with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Lion (Leo).
