M90 and IC 3583 (Arp 76)
M90 (also known as NGC 4569) is a spiral galaxy that is part of the Virgo cluster. It is sometimes referred to as an anemic galaxy because of a dearth of star formation in its spiral arms. This is related to the stripping away of interstellar gas and material (ram pressure stripping) from interactions with the intracluster medium. A January 2016 paper by Boselli, Cuillandre, Fossati, et.al. using the MegaCam at the Canadian-French-Hawaii Telescope describes the presence of “spectacular tails” of diffuse ionized gas extending from the disc of the galaxy (available at
1601.04978.pdf (arxiv.org).
M90 is one of the few galaxies that exhibit a blue-shifted spectrum indicating a net motion in our direction within the Virgo cluster. M90 is about 59 million light-years away from Earth.
Irregular galaxy IC 3583 is visible to the right of M90 in this image. IC 3583 is about 30 million light-years away and may be gravitationally interacting with M90. Together the pair is listed in Halton Arp’s
Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies as Arp 76. Many other galaxies are also visible in the image.
I hope you like the image!
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