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Credit & Copyright: NASA
Explanation:
Majestic on a truly cosmic scale,
M100 is appropriately known as a
Grand Design spiral galaxy.
A large galaxy of over 100 billion or so stars with
well defined spiral arms,
it is similar to our own Milky Way.
One of the brightest members of
the Virgo Cluster of galaxies , M100 (alias NGC 4321) is
56 million light-years distant in the spring constellation of
Coma Berenices.
This Hubble Space Telescope image of the central region
of M100 was made in 1993 with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.
It reveals the
bright blue star clusters
and intricate
winding dust lanes
which are hallmarks of this
class of galaxies.
Studies of
stars in M100 have
recently played an important role
in determining the
size and age of the Universe.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: M 100 - spiral galaxy
Publications with words: M 100 - spiral galaxy
See also:
- Webb and Hubble: IC 5332
- APOD: 2026 February 4 Á Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: Wide Field
- Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365 from Webb
- APOD: 2026 January 14 Á M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy
- IC 342: Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis
- NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe
- APOD: 2025 November 5 Á Spiral Galaxy NGC 3370 from Hubble