From the Hubble Space Telescope
This image shows the core of the spiral galaxy M100, as seen by Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in its high resolution channel. It is one of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. The galaxy is in the spring constellation Coma Berenices and can be seen through a moderate-sized amateur telescope. M100 is spiral shaped, like our Milky Way, and tilted nearly face-on as seen from earth. The galaxy has two prominent arms of bright stars and several fainter arms. Though the galaxy is estimated to be tens of millions of light-years away, Hubble reveals the sort of detail only seen previously (with ground based telescopes) in neighboring galaxies that are ten times closer.
Image Title: Picture Perfect: Hubble's New Improved Optics Probe the Core of a Distant Galaxy
based on press release for PHOTO NO.: STScI-PR94-01
Last Modified On: Sunday, December 17, 2000