Niue 1 Dollar Silver Coin 2015 The Most Beautiful Galaxies - NGC 4321 Messier 100
The Most Beautiful Galaxies series
The Most Beautiful Galaxies series was designed in collaboration with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) – the leading intergovernmental astronomy organization in Europe. The fourth coin in the series is dedicated to the MESSIER 100 NGC 4321.The traditional obverse of the coin by Niue bears the portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II surrounded by the following inscriptions: the Queen’s name, the face value of the coin, its issuing year and country.
The reverse features an image of God taken from the “Ancient of Days” by W. Blake, drawing a circle around a selected galaxy with a compass. The colored image of a galaxy was taken in 1998 with one of the first Very Large Telescopes (VLT) located in the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The image was perfectly imprinted in high resolution technology. The background image represents a monochord – an ancient one-string musical instrument that symbolizes deep exploration of music and cosmology.
Country: Niue.
Year: 2015.
Denomination: 1 NZD - legal tender in New Zealand.
Metal: Silver.
Fineness: .999.
Weight: 17.5g (0.56oz).
Diameter: 38.61 mm.
Embellished with digital micro printing.
Very low mintage - limited to only 2015 pieces.
Finish: Proof.
The Most Beautiful Galaxies series
The entire collection will comprise:The Tinker Bell Triplet, The Topsy-Turvy Galaxy NGC 1313, Messier 100 NGC 4321,
The Active Galaxy NGC 4945, The Centre of the Active Galaxy NGC 1097, Centaurus A, Antenna Galaxies, The Sombrero Galaxy, Spiral Galaxy NGC 1232.
Messier 100
Messier 100 (also known as NGC 4321) is an example of a grand design intermediate spiral galaxy located within the southern part of constellation Coma Berenices. It is one of the brightest and largest galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, located approximately 55 million light-years distant from Earth and has a diameter of 107,000 light years. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain on March 15, 1781 and was subsequently entered in Messier’s catalogue of nebulae and star clusters after Charles Messier made observations of his own on April 13, 1781. The galaxy was one of the first spiral galaxies to be discovered, and was listed as one of fourteen spiral nebulae by Lord William Parsons of Rosse in 1850. Two satellite galaxies named NGC 4323 -connected with M100 by a bridge of luminous matter- and NGC 4328 are present within this galaxy.
Early observations
After the discovery of M100 by Méchain, Charles Messier made observations of the galaxy depicting it as a nebula without a star. He pointed out that it was difficult to recognize the nebula because of its faintness. William Herschel was able to identify a bright cluster of stars within the nebula during observations he did before John Herschel expanded the findings in 1833. With the advent of better telescopes, John Herschel was able to see a round, brighter galaxy; however, he also mentioned that it was barely visible through clouds. William Henry Smyth extended the studies of M100, detailing it as a pearly white nebula and pointing out diffuse spots.
Star formation
Messier 100 is considered a starburst galaxy with the strongest star formation activity concentrated in its center, within a ring - actually two tightly wound spiral arms attached to a small nuclear bar with a radius of 1 kilo-parsec - where star formation has been taking place since at least 500 million years ago in separate bursts.
As usual on spiral galaxies of the Virgo Cluster, in the rest of the disk both star formation and neutral hydrogen, of which M100 is deficient compared to isolated spiral galaxies of similar Hubble type, are truncated within the galaxy's disk, which is caused by interactions with the intracluster medium of Virgo.
Supernovae
Five supernovae have been identified in the M100 galaxy. In March 1901 the first supernova of M100 was found, SN 1901B, a type I supernova found when magnitude 15.6 at a distance from its nucleus. SN 1914A was then discovered in February to March 1914; its type was undeterminable but was found when magnitude 15.7 at some distance from the center. Observations of M100 from February 21, 1960 to June 17, 1960 led to the discovery of SN 1959E, another type I supernova, with the faintest magnitude, 17.5, among the five found, at 58"E and 21"S from its nucleus. On April 15, 1979, the first type II supernova found in the M100 galaxy was discovered; however the star SN 1979C faded quickly; later observations from x-ray to radio wavelengths revealed its remnant. The latest supernova was discovered February 7, 2006; the star SN 2006X had a magnitude of 15.3 when discovered two weeks before fading to magnitude +17.