The Hubble Space Telescope has an image of the spiral of the galaxy M99 on display. M99 has a rotating disk of stars, gas, and dust which is concentrated in the center and reaches out into space with spiral arms. His particular spiral galaxy is a grand design, a classification given to the neatest and most orderly spiral galaxies.

The magnificent spiral galaxy M99 fills the frame in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
The magnificent spiral galaxy M99 fills the frame in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. M99 – which lies roughly 42 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices – is a “grand design” spiral galaxy, so-called because of the well-defined, prominent spiral arms visible in this image. ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Kasliwal, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team

The M99 is located in the constellation of Coma Berenices and is 42 million light-years away from Earth. The galaxy is an interesting target of research and has been imaged by the Wide Field Camera 3 twice.

M99 looked at the difference between novae and supernovae, two types of explosions that can occur at the end of a star's life. Massive stars run out of fuel and explode in huge, bright events which can send out shockwaves and leave behind distinctive remnants. novae are dimmer events that happen when white dwarfs in a system with a larger star suck off layers of matter from that star's outer shell.

Hubble scientists theorize that there may be events between novae and supernovae.

The Hubble Space Telescope was used to look at how young stars form from clouds of cold dust.

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