Mirror Galaxy – Messier 100

Details
Equipment used
Object Details

Messier 100 is a grand design spiral galaxy located in the constellation Coma Berenices. It is one of the brightest and largest galaxies in the Virgo Cluster and lies about 55 million light-years from Earth.

M100 spans over 100,000 light-years in diameter and contains hundreds of billions of stars. It is seen almost face-on, revealing two prominent, well-defined spiral arms along with several fainter ones. These arms are rich in gas, dust, and young, hot blue stars, giving the galaxy its striking, symmetrical appearance.

Messier 100 is a starburst galaxy. Its most intense star formation occurs near the center, where gas is concentrated in a ring-like structure formed by tightly wound spiral arms and a small central bar. This region has been producing new stars in repeated bursts for at least 500 million years.

Discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain and later added to the Messier catalog by Charles Messier, M100 was among the first galaxies recognized to have a spiral structure. Today, it remains an important object for studying how galaxies evolve, form stars, and interact with their environments.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_100

Setup
Main Deep Sky Setup

Telescope / Camera Lens
UNC200

Camera
Omegon veTEC 571c

Mount
Skywatcher EQ6r-Pro

Filter
Astronomik L-2, L-eXtreme

Integration Time
RGB: 188 x 180 s = 9 h 24 min
L-eXtreme: 87 x 300 s = 7 h 15 min

Total: 16 h 39 min

Comments
-

Type of Main Object
Galaxy

Constellation
Coma Berenices

Observation Site
Goldau, CH
Bortle Class 4

Date
31st December 2025
24th - 26th February 2026

 

annotated
starless

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Astrophotography by Sven Arnold

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