                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

                                2023 April 8
    A spiral galaxy is shown with spiral arms dominated by blue stars and
     with a bright central swirl that itself looks like a spiral galaxy.
          Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

                     M100: A Grand Design Spiral Galaxy
          Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: Judy Schmidt

   Explanation: Majestic on a truly cosmic scale, M100 is appropriately
   known as a grand design 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. One of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster of
   galaxies, M100 (alias NGC 4321) is 56 million light-years distant
   toward the constellation of Berenice's Hair (Coma Berenices). This
   Hubble Space Telescope image of M100 was taken with the Wide Field
   Camera 3 and accentuates bright blue star clusters and intricate
   winding dust lanes which are hallmarks of this class of galaxies.
   Studies of variable stars in M100 have played an important role in
   determining the size and age of the Universe.

                         Tomorrow's picture: big egg
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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