images

Spiral galaxy M74 in Pisces

by

E.Mouquet/Novapix

Reference

a-gax06-28002

Date

2007-01-16

M74 (NGC 628) is located roughly 30 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Pisces, the Fish. It is the dominant member of a small group of about half a dozen galaxies, the M74 galaxy group. In its entirety, it is estimated that M74 is home to about 100 billion stars, making it slightly smaller than our Milky Way.