Spaceimages - Astrofotografie by Jens Zippel

Messier 100 or NGC 4321 is an active barred spiral galaxy with extensive star formation regions of the Hubble type SBbc in the constellation Coma Berenices in the northern starry sky. It is estimated to be 68 million light years away from the Milky Way and has a diameter of about 155,000 light years.

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Object:	M 100
Date of exposures:	08.04.2019, 09.04.2019
Distance:	68 Mio. Lightyears
Exposures:	Luminance: 80 x 180", RGB: 134 x 180", Sum: 10,7 hrs.
Telescope:	10'', F4 Newton
Focal length:	1000mm
Filter:	Astrodon LRGB E-Series
Camera:	ASI 1600 MMC Pro
Guiding:	Off Axis Guider, Lodestar
Mount:	EQ8

Under the catalogue designation VCC 596 it is listed as a member of the Virgo cluster of galaxies and is located in its northernmost part. Like almost all spiral galaxies, M 100 is far away from the densely populated center of the galaxy cluster. Among the spiral galaxies of this cluster, it is the brightest.

Since its galactic plane is inclined by more than 60 degrees against the line of sight, we have a very good view of the galactic disk. This makes it an ideal object of investigation for all questions concerning spiral galaxies of the Virgo cluster. The supernovae SN 1901B (Type I), SN 1914A, SN 1959E (Type I), SN 1979C (Type IIL), SN 2006X (Type Ia) and SN2019ehk have been discovered here, although SN 1979C is exceptional because of its X-ray radiation, which is still present today.

M 100 is also the main galaxy of the small subgroup Holm 387 within the Virgo cluster, which still consists mainly of dwarf galaxies.

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