M98

M98 is observed almost edge-on and appears as a diffuse, chaotic disk, containing some bluish regions of newly formed stars and a huge amount of absorbing dust, which considerably reddens the light from the small but bright central nucleus.

The nucleus is active, exhibiting characteristics of a "transition"-type object. That is, it exhibits the properties of a LINER-type galaxy interspersed with an H II region around the nucleus.

M98 is approaching us at about 140 km/s.