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Credit & Copyright: Bernard Miller
Explanation:
A bright spiral galaxy of the northern sky,
Messier 63 is about
25 million light-years distant in the loyal constellation
Canes
Venatici.
Also cataloged as NGC 5055, the majestic
island universe
is nearly 100,000 light-years across.
That's about the size
of our own Milky Way Galaxy.
Known by the popular moniker, The Sunflower Galaxy,
M63 sports a bright yellowish core in this
sharp telescopic portrait.
Its sweeping blue spiral arms are streaked with cosmic dust lanes and
dotted with pink star forming regions.
A dominant member of a known
galaxy
group, M63 has faint, extended features that are likely star streams
from tidally disrupted satellite galaxies.
M63 shines across
the electromagnetic spectrum and is thought to have
undergone
bursts of intense star formation.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: spiral galaxy - M 63
Publications with words: spiral galaxy - M 63
See also:
- Webb and Hubble: IC 5332
- APOD: 2026 February 4 Á Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: Wide Field
- Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365 from Webb
- APOD: 2026 January 14 Á M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy
- IC 342: Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis
- NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe
- APOD: 2025 November 5 Á Spiral Galaxy NGC 3370 from Hubble