M100

grand-design spiral galaxy · Virgo Cluster · in Coma Berenices

49.6 million light-years from Earth

A grand-design spiral, one of the brightest in the Virgo Cluster. In 1994 its Cepheid stars gave the first distance to a Virgo galaxy measured with Hubble, and its core was the showcase picture after Hubble's first repair mission. Seven supernovae have been seen in it since 1901.

• 49.6 million light-years (Cepheids) · about 87,000 light-years across
• a ring of young stars circles its centre

kind

galaxy

catalogue

M100 · NGC 4321

size

87,000 light-years across