More M100

Image of M100, taken by David Malin with the Anglo-Australian Telescope.

This image shows a portion of the Virgo cluster of

galaxies which is dominated by the majestic spiral M100, one of the most

beautiful spirals in this cluster. This part of the photograph can be studied

in an enhanced magnificient image.

A small companion, NGC 4322, is shown in the upper part of the image.

This small galaxy is a representative of a much less spectacular kind of

galaxies, a so-called nucleated dwarf ellipcital, and our image is the

first color picture of a dwarf galaxy of this type. From this image, we can

conclude that although this galaxy is almost certainly in the same cluster as

M100, it must not necessarily be close to it.

Dwarf galaxies are by far the most common kind in rich clusters such as this,

but nucleated examples are unusual, and this is the first color picture to

show one.

• More information on this image by David Malin

  

  A deeper AAT image of M100 and its neighborhood in the

  Virgo Cluster. This image has been created from the

  same plates that were used to make the above; it shows the much fainter

  galaxies in the field of M100. In the image enhancement process, the brighter

  details of the large spiral and the nucleated dwarf galaxy have been lost,

  and the color of the sky background is rather uneven, but this wider view now

  shows many other, much fainter galaxies. The nucleated dwarf seen in the image

  above is now obviously involved with the faint outskirts of the large spiral.

  The somewhat distorted shape of the dwarf galaxy suggests it could be both

  influencing and being influenced by M100, and may be the cause of the

  asymmetry in the spiral arms seen in the previous image.

  Nearby is an even fainter, elongated dwarf galaxy and elsewhere in the

  picture are several others. Near one edge of the photograph is an unusual,

  slightly irregularly shaped blue dwarf galaxy. More intensive image

  enhancement of fine-grain, high resolution plates of this part of the sky

  shows many more, even fainter galaxies than those seen here, suggesting

  that most members of the Virgo cluster are not bright, eye-catching spirals

  like M100, or even fuzzy ellipticals, but faint, seemingly insignificant

  dwarf galaxies.

• More information on this image by David Malin

  The images in this page are copyrighted and may be used for private purpose

  only. For any other kind of use, including internet mirroring and storing on

  CD-ROM, please contact

  Coral Cooksley of the

  Anglo Australian Observatory.

• Older scans of the AAT images of M100.
• More images by David Malin

  ---

  Hartmut Frommert

  ([email protected])

  Christine Kronberg

  ([email protected])

  

  

  

  

  Last Modification: 19 Apr 1998, 16:30 MET