𝘐'𝘮 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦!

This eye in the sky is the Cat's Eye Galaxy (M94)

Wow, is this one a bit different. My gear can only produce detail in the center nucleus and vicinity, but, man, what a spectacle. All kinds of colors swirling around, seeming to shimmer like the effect of oil-on-water.

Sucking. Me. In. Look. Away!

The 'scope has trouble making out the dimmer extensions, but this is indeed a spiral galaxy found in the constellation Canes Venatici. Although some references describe M94 as a barred spiral galaxy, the "bar" structure appears to be more oval-shaped

The spirals go out much farther than can be shown here, with my modest light-gathering tools, but you can make out the two ring structures just outside the nucleus.

During the 18th century race to catalog the most objects in the sky, Cat's Eye was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. Competitor Charles Messier noted it just two days later. The object they saw was barely bright enough to sketch. Neither could appreciate how the galaxy appears in full detail and color.

Good thing. They'd probably argue over what to call it:

"Je pense que ça ressemble à un oeil de chat!" "Êtes-vous fou? Cela ressemble à un œuf de Pâques!" "n’importe quoi."

["I think it looks like a cat's eye!" "Are you crazy? It looks like an Easter egg!" "What ever."]

CE is 5,400 light-years distant, which isn't too far away compared to most, and has an outer ring that's about 45,000 light-years wide.

Scientists can't completely understand how this galaxy is constructed, or how it got this way. Measurements seem to show that there is no dense dark matter to generate stars. Yet, both the bright middle and the dimmer outer-reaches show a lot of luminous material.

M94 isn't alone. It's associated with more than 20 other galaxies nearby. Only a couple seem to be influenced by their collective gravitational pull; most are simply drifting together in the same "current" in that part of the universe.

I write this entry tonight to Tord Gustavsen Trio's 𝘔𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳.