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Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2018January 15 M100:A Grand Design Spiral Galaxy ImageCredit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Explanation:Majestic on a truly cosmic scale, M100 is appropriately known as a grand designspiral galaxy. It is a large galaxy of over 100 billion stars with well-definedspiral arms that is similar to our own Milky Way Galaxy. One of the brightestmembers of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, M100 (alias NGC 4321) is 56 millionlight-years distant toward the constellation of Berenice's Hair (ComaBerenices). This Hubble Space Telescope image of M100 was taken recently withthe Wide Field Camera 3 and accentuates bright blue star clusters and intricatewinding dust lanes which are hallmarks of this class of galaxies. Studies ofvariable stars in M100 have played an important role in determining the sizeand age of the Universe. |
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