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The striking\u00a0spiral galaxy\u00a0featured in this week\u2019s Hubble\u00a0Picture of the Week\u00a0is Messier 90 (M90, also NGC 4569), located in the constellation Virgo. In 2019,\u00a0an image of M90\u00a0was released using data from the older\u00a0Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2\u00a0\u2014 data taken in 1994 soon after the camera\u2019s installation. That image has a distinctive stair-step pattern due to the layout of WFPC2\u2019s sensors. WFPC2 was replaced in 2010 by the\u00a0Wide Field Camera 3, and Hubble used WFC3 when it turned its aperture to Messier 90 again in 2019 and 2023. The resulting data was processed to create this stunning new image, providing a much fuller view of the galaxy\u2019s dusty disc, its gaseous halo and its bright core.<\/p>\n
The inner regions of M90\u2019s disc are sites of star formation, which is highlighted here by red\u00a0H-alpha light\u00a0from nebulae, but this is absent in the rest of the galaxy. M90 sits among the galaxies of the relatively nearby Virgo Cluster, and the course of its orbit took it on a path near the cluster\u2019s centre about three hundred million years ago. The density of gas in the inner cluster weighed on M90 like a strong headwind,\u00a0stripping\u00a0enormous quantities of gas from the galaxy and creating the diffuse halo that can be seen around it here. This gas is no longer available for M90 to form new stars with, and it will eventually fade as a spiral galaxy as a result.<\/p>\n
M90 is located 55 million light-years from Earth, but it\u2019s one of the very few galaxies getting closer to us. Its orbit through the Virgo cluster has accelerated it so much that it\u2019s in the process of escaping the cluster entirely, and by happenstance it\u2019s moving in our direction \u2014 other galaxies in the Virgo cluster have been measured at similar speeds, but in the opposite direction. Over the coming billions of years, we will be treated to a yet better view of M90 while it evolves into a\u00a0lenticular galaxy.<\/p>\n
[Image Description:<\/i>\u00a0A spiral galaxy. It has a bright core with light spilling out, and its disc is filled with thick clumps of dark reddish dust, which swirls around the galaxy following its rotation. Parts of the disc are speckled with blue, showing brighter and hotter stars. A halo of faintly-lit gas wraps around the galaxy, extending beyond the edges of the image.]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n