This deep image shows the grand design spiral galaxy Messier 100. Its prominent and well-defined spiral arms are ablaze with pink HII regions and bright blue supergiant stars. In the centre of the galaxy lies an area of intense star formation visible as a small bright ring surrounding the core. A large faint halo extends far beyond the bright spiral arms.
This magnificent galaxy is located in the constellation Coma Berenices, approximately 55 million light-years away from Earth. At 107,000 light-years in diameter it is one of the largest spiral galaxies in the Virgo Cluster.
Close to Messier 100 lies two satellite galaxies; NGC 4322 to the northeast connected by a bridge of luminous matter, and to the east is NGC 4328. Further away to the southwest lies NGC 4312, an edge-on spiral galaxy with a bright central region and a dusty disk. Numerous other smaller galaxies are scattered across the field, many of which are ultra faint dwarf galaxies with no obvious structure.
In the deep background countless distant galaxies appear, many visibly reddened by the cosmological redshift.
On the 27th March 2023, while some of the image data was acquired, the dwarf planet Ceres (mag 6.9) crossed the field of view, passing slowly in front of Messier 100's outer reaches as viewed from our perspective.
Here Ceres is visible as a bright yellowish 'star' close to the edge of Messier 100, in the 2 o'clock position.
Click here for
another version of the image without Ceres.
Resolution ............... 0.776 arcsec/px
Rotation ................. -0.685 deg
Focal distance ........... 1435.75 mm
Pixel size ............... 5.40 um
Field of view ............ 43' 0.2" x 32' 22.5"
Image center ............. RA: 12 22 29.705 Dec: +15 43 13.68Image details:Date: 27th March - 9th June 2023
Exposure: LRGB: 821:110:125:130 mins, total 19 hours 46 mins @ -25C
Telescope: Homebuilt 12.5" f/4 Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand
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