Messier 99

Messier 99 (also known as NGC 4254 ) is a 9.7 likes bright spiral galaxy with a surface area of 5.4 '× 4.7 ' in the constellation Coma Berenices.

M99 was discovered on March 15, 1781 together with the neighboring spiral galaxy M98 and M100 by Pierre Méchain. It was after the Whirlpool Galaxy M51 the second galaxy whose spiral structure was discovered, from Lord Rosse in 1846, he commented on his discovery with the lines.:

M99 is a galaxy that we see almost frontally by the Hubble type Sc. Peculiar to the shape of the galaxy, however, has slipped its core, significantly north of the center of the spiral is in the picture. The galaxy is located at the northern edge of the Virgo cluster of galaxies in the vicinity of the spiral galaxy M98. There are speculations that the core slipped and the proximity of these two galaxies are not accidental, but indicate a flyby each other in the past. This speculation is further fueled by the fact that both galaxies have opposite and at the same time high peculiar velocities.

Recording of the ESO VLT; highlighted are metal-rich regions.

Detailed study of the Hubble Space Telescope

VirgoHI21

Investigations of a team to Pierre -Alain Duc in 2007 have shown that the galaxy M98 (NGC 4192 ) is characterized not only responsible for the deformation of M99, but also for the run as a prototype of the dark galaxies structure VirgoHI21. According to the research drew M98 750 million years ago at a relative velocity of 1125 km / s, close to M99 over and snatched her taking a lot of hydrogen, which now forms the structure.

See also

  • Dark Galaxy
Declination Radial velocity Light-year Messier object New General Catalogue Uppsala General Catalogue Catalogue of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies IRAS HIPASS Messier 100 Peculiar velocity Messier 106 Messier 61 List of NGC objects NGC 4236 NGC 4244 NGC 4261
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