Messier 100 — grand design splendour

Eso_potw1330a_1024

eso_potw1330a July 29th, 2013

Credit: ESO

Spiral galaxies are usually very aesthetically appealing objects, and never more so than when they appear face-on. And this image is a particularly splendid example: it is the grand design spiral galaxy Messier 100, located in the southern part of the constellation of Coma Berenices, and lying about 55 million light-years from Earth. While Messier 100 shows very well defined spiral arms, it also displays the faintest of bar-like structures in the centre, which classifies this as type SAB. Although it is not easily spotted in the image, scientists have been able to confirm the bar’s existence by observing it in other wavelengths. This very detailed image shows the main features expected in a galaxy of this type: huge clouds of hydrogen gas, glowing in red patches when they re-emit the energy absorbed from newly born, massive stars; the uniform brightness of older, yellowish stars near the centre; and black shreds of dust weaving through the arms of the galaxy. Messier 100 is one of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster, which is the closest cluster of galaxies to our galaxy, the Milky Way, containing over 2000 galaxies, including spirals, ellipticals, and irregulars. This picture is a combination of images from the FORS instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile, taken with red (R), green (V) and blue (B) filters. Links Photos of the VLT

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1330a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
M 100 Messier 100
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Eso_potw1330a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 22m 54.9s
DEC = 15° 49’ 20.1”
Orientation
North is 0.1° CCW
Field of View
5.3 x 3.9 arcminutes
Constellation
Coma Berenices

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue VLT (FORS1) Optical (B) -
Green VLT (FORS1) Optical (V) -
Red VLT (FORS1) Optical (R) -
Eso_potw1330a_1280
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ID
potw1330a
Subject Category
C.5.1.1  
Subject Name
M 100, Messier 100
Credits
ESO
Release Date
2013-07-29T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1330a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
FORS1, FORS1, FORS1
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
B, V, R
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
185.728821, 15.822254
Reference Dimension
1257.0, 943.0
Reference Pixel
677.934350408, 453.548796037
Scale
-6.969095e-05, 6.969095e-05
Rotation
0.05720769962
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
potw1330a
Metadata Date
2013-03-19T16:25:56+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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