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M 64 is usually known as the Black Eye galaxy, due to the dark dust lane around the galaxy’s nucleus. M 64 lies about 20 million light years away and has a size quite similar to M33’s, about one half the size of the Milky Way and about 30 billion stars. M64 has an astonishing feature, discovered using the Hubble Telescope images: the interstellar gas of the galaxy’s outer regions rotates in the opposite direction from the gas and stars in the inner regions. This brings, as a natural consequence, a high star-birth rate due to the logical shear and “compression” in the “colliding” zone.
Additional Information
Object
Name(s): M 64, NGC 4826, Black Eye Galaxy
Type: Spiral galaxy
RA: 12h 56m 43s
Dec: 21º 41’ 06”
Constellation: Coma Berenices
Size (arcmin): 10×5.5
Magnitude: +8.5
Distance: 20 Mly
Image
Date: 2013-06-04
Location: Corbera de Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia
Size (arcmin): 37×28
Telescope: Celestron 11” HD f/10
Camera: FLI ML6303 (3072x2048pix)
Guiding: Orion SSAG/Nikkor 500mm f/8
Total exposure: 90 min (L: 30min; RGB: 60min)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CC 2016