M98

M98 is a galaxy in the Virgo cluster of galaxies.  It lies at a distance of around 60 million light years and is somewhat tilted to our line of sight.  The galaxy itself lies in the constellation Coma Berenices.  This galaxy is blue shifted and approaching us at around 140 km/sec.

The colors of this galaxy are rather muted.  This is possibly due to intevening dust.  The galaxy does show some bluer regions of star formation and it does have a very small and sharp nucleus.

There are several other objects in this image.  Several of the galaxies as well as a Quasar that can be seen here (there is a second quasar as well but it is dim and close to a radio source and its identification would be questionable).  Ha data would also likely bring out some nebular regions but the guide star for this image is too dim to effectively gather such data.