                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                               2018 December 25
                                      [2]
                      M100: A Grand Design Spiral Galaxy
                Image Credit: NASA [3] , ESA [4] , Hubble [5]

Explanation: Majestic on a truly cosmic scale, M100 is appropriately known as
a grand design [6]  spiral galaxy. It is a large galaxy of over 100 billion
stars with well-defined spiral arms that is similar to our own Milky Way
Galaxy [7] . One of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster [8]  of
galaxies, M100 [9] (alias NGC 4321) is 56 million light-years distant toward
the constellation of Berenice's Hair (Coma Berenices [10] ). This [11]  Hubble
Space [12]  Telescope image of M100 was taken recently with the Wide Field
Camera 3 [13]  and accentuates bright blue star clusters [14]  and intricate
winding dust lanes [15]  which are hallmarks of this class of galaxies.
Studies of variable stars in M100 [16] have played an important role in
determining the size and age of the Universe [17] .

                      Tomorrow's picture: space lobster

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [29] (MTU [30] ) & Jerry Bonnell [31]
                                  (UMCP [32] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [33] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [34]
              A service of: ASD [35]  at NASA [36]  / GSFC [37]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [38]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1812/M100_HubbleWfc3_3679.jpg
  [3] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [4] https://www.esa.int/
  [5] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/index.html
  [6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_design_spiral_galaxy
  [7] http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/glimpse360/wwt
  [8] ap110422.html
  [9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_100
  [10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma_Berenices
  [11] https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1850a/
  [12] http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/
  [13] https://www.spacetelescope.org/about/general/instruments/wfc3/
  [14] open_clusters.html
  [15] ap140726.html
  [16] http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~juda/ism/m100.html
  [17] http://apod.nasa.gov/debate/debate96.html
  [18] ap181224.html
  [19] archivepix.html
  [20] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [21] lib/aptree.html
  [22] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [23] calendar/allyears.html
  [24] /apod.rss
  [25] lib/edlinks.html
  [26] lib/about_apod.html
  [27] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=181225
  [28] ap181226.html
  [29] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [30] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [31] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [32] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [33] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [34] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [35] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [36] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [37] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [38] http://www.mtu.edu/
