The Swirling Arms of the M100 Galaxy

Spitzer_sig12-007_1024

spitzer_sig12-007 August 2nd, 2012

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The galaxy Messier 100, or M100, shows its swirling spiral in this infrared image from NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope. The arcing spiral arms of dust and gas that harbor starforming regions glow vividly when seen in the infrared.

is a classic example of a grand design spiral galaxy, with prominent and well-defined spiral arms winding from the hot center, out to the cooler edges of the galaxy. It is located about 55 million light years away from Earth, in the little-known constellation of Coma Berenices, near to the more recognizable Leo.

In the center, we can see a prominent ring of hot, bright dust surrounding the inner galactic core. Moving further out, the spiral arms peter out towards the edges of the galaxy, where thick webs of dust dominate. Beyond the edges of the dust clouds, a faint blue glow of stars extends to the edge of the galaxys disk.

Two small companion galaxies, known as NGC 4323 and NGC 4328, appear as fuzzy blue blobs on the upper side of M100. These so-called lenticular galaxies are virtually clear of any dust, so they lack any of the red/green glow seen in their bigger neighbor. The shape of M100 is probably being perturbed by the gravity of these galaxies.

M100 was discovered in 1781, and is now known to stretch roughly 160,000 light years from one side to the other, making it about one and a half times the size of our own Milky Way galaxy. By studying these infrared images of M100, astronomers can map out the structure of the stars and dust, and study the ways in which galaxies like our Milky Way were formed.

M100 is well-known to astronomers because of the five stars that have become supernovae within the galaxy between 1901 and 2006. These exploding stars are extremely useful for helping astronomers to calibrate distance scales in the universe, and to estimate the age of the universe since its creation in the Big Bang.

The red regions reveal dust clouds that light up under the illumination of the surrounding stars. The stars themselves shine most brightly at the shorter infrared wavelengths, showing up here in blue. The blue dots covering the entire image are stars that lie between us and M100.

Infrared light with wavelengths of 3.6 and 4.5 microns are displayed in blue and green showing primarily the glow from starlight. 8 micron light is rendered in red; the small contribution from starlight at 8 microns was subtracted out from the data to better show the dust structures near the galaxys center.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/5208-sig12-007-The-Swirling-Arms-of-the-M100-Galaxy

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/info/18-Image-Use-Policy

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Messier 100 M100 NGC 4321 NGC 4323 NGC 4328
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Galaxy > Type > Lenticular
Galaxy > Grouping > Multiple

Distance

Universescale2
55,000,000 light years
Spitzer_sig12-007_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 22m 55.0s
DEC = 15° 49’ 20.4”
Orientation
North is 30.5° CW
Field of View
12.7 x 12.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Coma Berenices

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Near-IR) 3.6 µm
Green Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Near-IR) 4.5 µm
Orange Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Mid-IR) 5.8 µm
Red Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Mid-IR) 8.0 µm
The contribution from starlight has been subtracted from the 8.0 micron channel to enhance the visibility of dust features.
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Orange
Red
Spitzer_sig12-007_1280
×
ID
sig12-007
Subject Category
C.5.1.1   C.5.1.3   C.5.5.2  
Subject Name
Messier 100, M100, NGC 4321, NGC 4323, NGC 4328
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Release Date
2012-08-02
Lightyears
55,000,000
Redshift
0.005240
Reference Url
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/5208-sig12-007-The-Swirling-Arms-of-the-M100-Galaxy
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Spitzer, Spitzer, Spitzer, Spitzer
Instrument
IRAC, IRAC, IRAC, IRAC
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Orange, Red
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Near-IR, Near-IR, Mid-IR, Mid-IR
Central Wavelength
3600, 4500, 5800, 8000
Start Time
2004-06-10T00:30, 2004-06-10T00:30, 2004-06-10T00:30, 2004-06-10T00:30
Integration Time
1500.8, 1500.8, 1500.8, 1500.8
Dataset ID
Notes
T
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
Reference Value
185.7290300, 15.8223239
Reference Dimension
1016.0, 1016.0
Reference Pixel
509.0, 509.0
Scale
0.00020847, 0.00020846997
Rotation
-30.48
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Spitzer Space Telescope
URL
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/info/18-Image-Use-Policy
Publisher
Spitzer Science Center
Publisher ID
spitzer
Resource ID
sig12-007.tif
Metadata Date
2012-08-14
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
55,000,000 light years

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