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      Messier 88
      Wallpaper author:
      Dominic Gareau

      13 Dec 2025

      Messier 88

      Spinning 50 million light-years away, M88 is one of the grand design spirals of the Virgo Cluster. Its tightly wound arms are packed with dust, young blue stars, and subtle lanes of cold gas swirling around a bright, ancient core. Seen almost edge-on, the galaxy reveals its layered structure — warm starlight in the center fading into turbulent blue arms shaped by ongoing star formation.


      Surrounding it, countless distant galaxies fill the background like cosmic confetti, offering a glimpse into the deep universe far beyond M88 itself.

      Dataset from which the image was processed

      M88

      2 credit

      Open
      Telescope Live
      SPA-2-CCD
      • Type of target
        ............................................................................................................................
        Galaxy
      • Camera
        ............................................................................................................................
        FLI PL16803
      • Target coordinates
        ............................................................................................................................
        RA 187.9967 Dec 14.4204
      • Hemisphere
        ............................................................................................................................
        Northern
      • Telescope location
        ............................................................................................................................
        Spain
      • Transient event
        ............................................................................................................................
        No
      • Observed on
        ............................................................................................................................
        20 Mar 2021 - 07 Jul 2021
      Filter
      Avg Exp (s)
      Total Exposure
      Subframes
      Luminance3601h10
      Red27045m10
      Green24040m10
      Blue33350m9

      Messier 88