2.7 M74: The Perfect Spiral

Here is M74, one of the most photogenic spiral galaxies. M74 is an island universe composed of 100 billion stars that lies 32 light-years away in the constellation Pisces. The spiral arms are traced by blue star clusters and dark cosmic dust lanes. The red spots throughout the image are the star forming regions and are red due to Hydrogen gas. This image spans 30,000 light-years across the galaxy.