SUNSET: 
0
Photographer:
Bruce Waddington
Location of Photo:
SkyPi Remote Observatory, New Mexico
Date/Time of photo:
4 nights ending on 4/23/2025
Equipment:
12.5" Planewave scope with QSI-640ws camera
Description:
M99 is a grand-design spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices, sometimes referred to as the Coma Pinwheel. It was one of the first galaxies whose spiral structure could be seen by early astronomers, first noted in 1846. The peculiar "one-armed" appearance is the consequence of gravitational interaction with one or more other galaxies in the region. M99 is on the outer edge of the Virgo galaxy cluster and is moving away from us at a very high rate - the highest redshift recorded for any Messier object. Although it is nearly the size of our Milky Way galaxy, it has less than 5% of our galaxy's mass.
