M100

M100 is one of the brightest member galaxies of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. It is a classic grand-design spiral galaxy, like our Milky Way, and tilted nearly face-on as seen from earth. M100 is actually much larger than shown in conventional photographs and a significant part of the galaxy's mass may lie in the faint outer regions. Due to its containing a number of Cepheid variables, its distance is well-known, coming in at about 56 million light-years. Five supernovae have been observed in M100 so far.

Image taken with the ST-8 camera, April, 2009. Tracking was not good.