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Credit & Copyright: Data -
Deep Sky West,
Processing -
John Vermette
Explanation:
The Sunflower Galaxy blooms near the center of this
wide
field telescopic view.
The scene spans about 2 degrees or 4 full moons on the
sky toward the loyal constellation
Canes
Venatici.
More formally known as Messier 63, the majestic
island universe
is nearly 100,000 light-years across, about the size
of our own Milky Way Galaxy.
Surrounding its bright yellowish core, sweeping spiral arms are streaked
with cosmic dust lanes and dotted with star forming regions.
A dominant member of a known
galaxy
group, M63 has faint,
extended features that could be the
the remains of dwarf satellite galaxies, evidence that
large
galaxies grow by accreting small ones.
M63 shines across the electromagnetic spectrum and is thought to have
undergone
bursts of intense
star formation.
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: M 63
Publications with words: M 63
See also: