Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a remarkable new view of the intermediate spiral galaxy Messier 90, located approximately 53.8 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo.
Also referred to as M90 or NGC 4569, this galaxy was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier on March 18, 1781. Messier 90 stands out as the brightest member of the Virgo Cluster, which contains about 1,300 to possibly 2,000 galaxies.
Notably, Messier 90 is one of the few galaxies moving toward the Milky Way Galaxy, rather than away from it. In 2019, Hubble released an image of Messier 90 using data from its Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), taken in 1994. That image displayed a distinctive stair-step pattern due to the layout of WFPC2's sensors.
With the replacement of WFPC2 by the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in 2010, Hubble revisited Messier 90 in 2019 and again in 2023. The new data was processed to create a stunning image, showcasing a fuller view of the galaxy's dusty disk, gaseous halo, and bright core.
The inner regions of Messier 90's disk are active sites of star formation, highlighted by red H-alpha light from nebulae, which is lacking in the rest of the galaxy. Approximately three hundred million years ago, Messier 90's orbit brought it near the center of the Virgo Cluster, where the dense gas stripped enormous quantities of material from the galaxy, resulting in a diffuse halo.
This gas depletion will hinder Messier 90's ability to form new stars, leading to its eventual fading as a spiral galaxy. Its accelerated orbit through the Virgo Cluster is propelling it toward escape from the cluster, fortuitously moving in the direction of Earth. Other galaxies in the Virgo Cluster have been observed moving at similar speeds but in the opposite direction.
Over the coming billions of years, Messier 90 will evolve into a lenticular galaxy, offering an even more captivating view.