Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]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.

                                 2024 May 2
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                     M100: A Grand Design Spiral Galaxy
                 Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Drew Evans

   Explanation: Majestic on a truly cosmic scale, M100 is appropriately
   known as a [5]grand design spiral galaxy. The large galaxy of over 100
   billion stars has well-defined spiral arms, similar to our own [6]Milky
   Way. One of the brightest members of the [7]Virgo Cluster of galaxies,
   [8]M100, also known as NGC 4321 is 56 million [9]light-years distant
   toward the well-groomed constellation [10]Coma Berenices. In this
   telescopic image, the face-on grand design spiral shares a nearly 1
   degree wide field-of-view with slightly less conspicuous edge-on spiral
   NGC 4312 (at upper right). The 21 hour long equivalent exposure from a
   dark sky site near Flagstaff, Arizona, planet Earth, reveals M100's
   bright blue star clusters and intricate winding dust lanes which are
   hallmarks of this class of galaxies. Measurements of variable stars in
   [11]M100 have played an important role in determining the [12]size and
   age of the Universe.

                    Tomorrow's picture: cloudy exoplanet
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    Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([27]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [28]Specific rights apply.
               [29]NASA Web Privacy, [30]Accessibility Notices
                A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC,
                         [34]NASA Science Activation
                           & [35]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2405/M100_DrewEvans.png
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.astrobin.com/users/DrewJEvans/
   5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_design_spiral_galaxy
   6. https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/objects/milkyway1.html
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110422.html
   8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_100
   9. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/
  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma_Berenices
  11. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/messier-100
  12. http://apod.nasa.gov/debate/debate96.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240501.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=240502
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240503.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  34. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  35. http://www.mtu.edu/