M90 is a magnitude 9.4 spiral galaxy of type Sb in Virgo. This galaxy is part of a celestial wonderland of innumerable galaxies, and is one of hundreds of vastly remote star cities in the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. M90 is located near the Virgo-Coma border. A good way to find M90 is to start with M84 and M86, and use them to find the giant elliptical galaxy M87. From M87, star hop to M89 and from there to M90. M90 is only one degree north-northeast from M89, and about 1.7 degrees northeast from M87.
M90 was discovered by Charles Messier in March 1781. It was included in the Messier catalog published in 1781. It is located about 42 million light-years away. The galaxy has a diameter of about 80,000 light-years. M90 has a total mass of approximately 80 billion solar masses.
This is an LRGB composite CCD image. An STL-11000M CCD was used at prime focus on a Takahashi FCT-150 refractor at f7. The image was taken from my backyard in Scottsdale, Arizona.
M90 (NGC 4269)
Constellation: Virgo
RA: 12h 36m 50s Dec: +13d 09' 50" (J2000)
January 11, 12, 14 & 15, 2008
Image by Sid Leach
Scottsdale, Arizona
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