Hubble captured Messier 88 (M88), also called NGC 4501, showing a central black hole estimated at about 100 million solar masses. Bright red dots mark old stars along spiral arms, while pink and blue indicate star clusters and dust clouds. M88 spans roughly 130,000 light-years in diameter and is part of the Virgo Cluster containing more than 1,000 galaxies. As M88 orbits the cluster center, it is moving toward the middle of the cluster and toward nearby galaxies. Over 200–300 million years, M88 is expected to reach its closest approach to Messier 87, with gravitational effects already visible. The image shows outer gas compressing and piling up, and M88 has less cold gas than expected for its size due to ram pressure stripping that removes gas under another body’s gravitational influence.
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