Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  IC 3583  ·  M 89  ·  M 90  ·  NGC 4552  ·  NGC 4569  ·  NGC 4584
Messier 90, A Smooth Spiral Galaxy In Virgo, Steven Hanaway
Messier 90, A Smooth Spiral Galaxy In Virgo
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Messier 90, A Smooth Spiral Galaxy In Virgo

Messier 90, A Smooth Spiral Galaxy In Virgo, Steven Hanaway
Messier 90, A Smooth Spiral Galaxy In Virgo
Powered byPixInsight

Messier 90, A Smooth Spiral Galaxy In Virgo

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This beautiful spiral galaxy is one of the largest and brightest members of the Virgo galaxy cluster. If you were to put The Andromeda Galaxy and Messier 90 at the same distance, Messier 90 would be actually be brighter! Because of the intracluster medium ( gas between galaxies, but in a galaxy cluster) that Messier 90 is moving through, much of the interstellar gas between stars in Messier 90 has been stripped away through a process called ram-pressure stripping. This deprivation of gas in Messier 90 has put the brakes on star formation, causing the arms of this spiral galaxy to appear smooth and without bulges (like those due to hydrogen two star forming regions.) Although there doesn't seem to be many star forming regions in Messier 90, there are many globular cluster of stars. This galaxy can be found about 58 million light years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo, and is best seen through imaging or a good quality small telescope. I hope you like today's image, as well as today's information.

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Messier 90, A Smooth Spiral Galaxy In Virgo, Steven Hanaway