Optics/mount : 12″ACF 2.7m AP-Reduzer Alt-5
Camera/filters: Atik 11002 Astrodon LRGB
Exposure: 17×600 Lum, 7×600 RGB all 1bin
29 March 2012

Messier 99 (also known as M99 or NGC 4254) is an unbarred spiral galaxy approximately 50 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices.

The galaxy has a normal looking arm and an extended arm that is less tightly wound. A bridge of neutral hydrogen gas links NGC 4254 with VIRGOHI21. The gravity from the possible dark galaxy VIRGOHI21 may have distorted M99 and drawn out the gas bridge, as the two galaxy-sized objects have a close encounter, before they go their separate ways. It is expected that the drawn out arm will relax to match the normal arm once the encounter is over. Three supernovae have been observed in this galaxy.

More galaxys aroud M99