Majestic [ http://www.lhl.lib.…] on a truly cosmic scale, M100 [ http://bozo.lpl.ari…] is appropriately known as a Grand Design spiral [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] galaxy. A large galaxy of over 100 billion or so stars with well defined spiral arms [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], it is similar to our own Milky Way [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. One of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies [ http://bozo.lpl.ari…] , M100 (alias NGC 4321) is 56 million light-years distant in the spring constellation of Coma Berenices [ http://www.astro.wi…constellations/Coma_ Berenices.html ]. This Hubble Space Telescope image [ http://oposite.stsc…] 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 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and intricate winding dust lanes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] which are hallmarks of this class of galaxies [ http://hermes.astro…]. Studies of stars in M100 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] have recently played an important role in determining the size and age [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…debate_1996.html ] of the Universe.
Explanation
Majestic [ http://www.lhl.lib.…] on a truly cosmic scale, M100 [ http://bozo.lpl.ari…] is appropriately known as a Grand Design spiral [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] galaxy. A large galaxy of over 100 billion or so stars with well defined spiral arms [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], it is similar to our own Milky Way [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. One of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies [ http://bozo.lpl.ari…] , M100 (alias NGC 4321) is 56 million light-years distant in the spring constellation of Coma Berenices [ http://www.astro.wi…constellations/Coma_ Berenices.html ]. This Hubble Space Telescope image [ http://oposite.stsc…] 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 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and intricate winding dust lanes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] which are hallmarks of this class of galaxies [ http://hermes.astro…]. Studies of stars in M100 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] have recently played an important role in determining the size and age [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…debate_1996.html ] of the Universe.
