Messier 98

Messier 98 (M98) is a spiral galaxy about 44 million light years away from us. Although part of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, it lies just across the Virgo Constellation border in the Coma Berenices Constellation.

M98 is massive, containing around a trillion stars. Compare that to the Milky Way’s 200 to 400 billion. Our galaxy is around 100,000 light years in diameter, but M98 is larger—between 126,000 and 160,000 light years in breadth. It has an active galactic nucleus—that is, a supermassive black hole that is accreting copious amounts of gas, dust, and stars. This accretion disk is very bright, which you can see in the image above.

According to Kanipe & Webb, M98 is one of the few galaxies that is moving toward us. It’s approaching at a speed of 319,000 miles per hour. If it maintains its course, it should arrive in around 5,500 times the current age of the universe (82 quintillion years). Kanipe & Webb also point out that the blue spiral arms are rich with new star formation.