This beautiful spiral, known as Messier 88 (NGC 4501), is located approximately 63 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It is a member of the Virgo Cluster--a gravitationally bound grouping of over a thousand galaxies. As this vast swarm of galaxies moves through space, each individual galaxy is in constant motion, orbiting the cluster's center of gravity. M88 thus undertakes a long cosmic journey that carries it through the reaches of the cluster, exposing it to the risk of dangerous collisions with other, larger galaxies.
NASA
