File:Messier_100_—_Grand_Design_Splendour.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Messier 100
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Messier 100 is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Coma Berenices, one of many galaxies visible from Earth through telescopes. It's a notable target for astronomers studying the structure and behavior of galaxies like our own Milky Way.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- active galactic nucleus
- Constellation
- Coma Berenices
- Distance from Earth
- 15.2
- Image
- Messier 100 and Supernova SN 2006X.jpg
Show 12 more facts
- redshift
- 0.00525
- Commons category
- Messier 100
- catalog code
- NVSS J122255+154921
- discoverer or inventor
- Pierre Méchain
- time of discovery or invention
- 1781-03-15
- Commons gallery
- Messier 100
- apparent magnitude
- 10.659
- galaxy morphological type
- Sc(dSc)
- right ascension
- 185.729167
- declination
- 15.822639
- radial velocity
- 1617
- epoch
- J2000.0
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Encyclopedic overview
Messier 100 (also known as NGC 4321 or the Mirror Galaxy) is a grand design intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation of Coma Berenices. It is one of the brightest and largest galaxies in the Virgo Cluster and is approximately 55 million light-years from our galaxy, about 166,000 light-years in diameter. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 and 29 days later seen again and entered by Charles Messier in his catalogue "of nebulae and star clusters". It was one of the first spiral galaxies to be discovered, and was listed as one of fourteen spiral nebulae by Lord William Parsons of Rosse in 1850. NGC 4323 and NGC 4328 are satellite galaxies of M100; the former is connected with it by a bridge of luminous matter.
Early observations
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Messier 100” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.