M100, NGC 4321

M100 is one of the brighter galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, although it's actually located in the constellation Coma Berenices. It is a spiral galaxy of type Sc, nearly face-on and showing strong blue (young star) spiral arms. In addition, this picture shows two nearby dwarf galaxies, while still managing not to saturate the inner regions of M100. The Virgo cluster also includes Messier galaxies M49, M58, M59, M60, M61, M84, M85, M86, M87, M88, M89, M90, M91, M98, and M99. This image was taken with the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory on the night of December 20th 2002 UT. Image size 15.3 arc minutes.