Lowell Observatory image of M90
The smooth-armed spiral galaxy Messier 90 (NGC 4569) in the core of the
Virgo galaxy cluster, shown in a three-color reconstruction from BVR
CCD frames taken with the 1.1-meter Hall telescope at Lowell Observatory.
The bright unresolved nucleus is especially prominent; it shows spectral
features indicating a fading burst of star formation. The nucleus looks
so starlike that it has at times been taken to be a foreground star and
ignored during measurements of the galaxy’s redshift (actually blueshift
in this case, since M90 is orbiting rapidly enough within Virgo to
overcome the Hubble velocity we would normally observe).
Credit: Bill Keel, University of Alabama.
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This image was featured as Astronomy Picture of the Day March 16, 1996
- More Messier images from Bill Keel’s collection
Spiral galaxy M90 in the Virgo Cluster was imaged here by amateurs of the
D. Nelson Limber Memorial Observatory
in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio, from their
“Cruise the Virgo Cluster” page.
- More images from the D. Nelson Limber Memorial Observatory
Last Modification: 2 Jun 1998, 21:50 MET