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Hubble Zeroes in on Messier 96

Aug 31, 2015 by News Staff / Source

Messier 96, also known as NGC 3368, LEDA 32192 or M96, is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Leo, about 34 million light-years from Earth.

The galaxy was first discovered by French astronomer Pierre Méchain on March 20, 1781, and added to Charles Messier’s catalogue of astronomical objects just four days later.

It spans about 100,000 light-years across, about the size of our Milky Way Galaxy.

Its estimated mass is approximately 80 billion solar masses.

Messier 96 is a dominant member of the Leo I galaxy group, also called the M96 group.

http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/science-hubble-messier96-spiral-galaxy-03184.html

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Click on link for an incredible high-resolution image of the galaxy above: Messier 96...

“Dust lanes seem to swirl around the core of the spiral galaxy Messier 96 in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / LEGUS Team / R. Gendler.”

http://cdn.sci-news.com/images/enlarge2/image_3184e-Messier-96.jpg