The beautiful blue spiral galaxy in the upper left of this image is M 99.
Though in the constellation Coma Bernices, it is a member of the
Virgo Galaxy Cluster, and is about 60 million light years from Earth.
Like M 101, M 99 is strikingly assymetrical, with one arm drawn out
from the galaxy far more than the others. It is not clear why this has
happened, with some astronomers suggesting it is the result of a close
encounter with another galaxy in the cluster (though there is no obvious
candidate for such a meeting), while others suggest a nearby "dark galaxy",
a cloud of the mysterious dark matter the size of a galaxy but with
almost no stars (this "dark matter galaxy" is called VIRGOHI121, though other
scientists dispute its existence).

Near the bottom of the image is an elliptical galaxy, NGC 4262, and on the right
side are NGC 4298 (a nearly face-on spiral galaxy) and NGC 4302 (an edge-on spiral
galaxy). There are a number of other small, faint galaxies throughout this image.

Image data:
Camera: Canon 350 XT (modified)
Exposure: ISO 800, 5 minutes x 20
Telescope: 10" Schmidt-Newtonian, Baader MPCC