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M99 (NGC 4254) is an unbarred spiral galaxy approximately 60 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It is one of the fainter Messier objects, and a beautiful spiral galaxy seen almost face-on and is one of the brighter spiral members of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies.

The galaxy has a normal looking arm and an extended arm that is less tightly wound. A bridge of neutral hydrogen gas links NGC 4254 with VIRGOHI21. The gravity from the dark galaxy VIRGOHI21 appears to have distorted M99 and drawn out the gas bridge, as the two galaxy-sized objects have a close encounter, before they go their separate ways. It is expected that the drawn out arm will relax to match the normal arm once the encounter is over. Three supernovae have been observed in this galaxy. (Wikipedia)

March 20, 2009