NASA gave advertising a stunning new image of the imposing spiral Galaxy Messier 90 (M90, also NGC 4569) located in the constellation Virgo. The image is the product of photographs and data recorded by the Hubble during the many years of observations he made at M90. The new image provides a much more complete view of the galaxy’s dusty disk, gaseous halo and bright core.
The inner regions of M90’s disk are sites of star formation, seen in the new red-light image. M90 is located among the galaxies in the cluster relatively close to Virgo, and its orbit took M90 on a path close to the center of the cluster about three hundred million years ago.
The density of gas in the inner cluster weighed down on M90 like a strong headwind, lifting large amounts of gas from the galaxy and creating the diffuse halo we see around it. This gas is no longer available to form new stars in M90, so there can no longer be much stellar production.
M90 is 55 million light-years from Earth, but it is one of the few galaxies that comes closest to us. Its orbit through the Virgo cluster has accelerated so much that M90 is in the process of escaping the cluster completely. Luckily, he’s moving toward us. Astronomers have measured other galaxies in the Virgo cluster at similar speeds but in the opposite direction.
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