M100 (NGC 4321) is one of the brightest (magnitude 9.3) members of the Virgo group of galaxies. It is located to the north of Virgo in Coma Berenices, but still very much part of the Virgo group. In this image it is far left. It has many young, high temperature giant stars in the spiral arms giving them a predominantly blue colour. M100 was discovered by P. Mechain in 1781 and catalogued by Messier in April that year. It is estimated to be 60 million light years distant with a diameter of about 160,000 light years, and with a total mass of about 160 billion suns. M100 is about 41 million light years away from our Galaxy.

The two Galaxies at lower right are. NGC 4298 / 4302.. The Galaxy in centre left is M98

These images were taken on the 23rd March 2010 with a Canon 40D and Stellarvue 102ED Refractor @ f /5.6.....24 x 5min. images @ ISO 800 taken in Nebulosity. Unsharp Mask applied in Photoshop.

Some Observing Tips......

You will need a good plan to wind your way through the Virgo Cluster, comprised of 14 galaxies in Virgo and Coma Berenices. I recommend you follow the order suggested in the "Marathon Order" as listed on the sheet you can find.The path starts in the eastern edge at Epsilon Virginis and goes toward the west rather than following the west to east, right ascension order from the list works well with most of the other objects.  If you get halfway through and get lost, don't panic. Start over again and the second time you will be able to quickly get back to the last galaxy you had observed..

The suggested observing order for objects in Coma Berenices and Virgo is as follows: