This spiral galaxy is located 30 million light years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici at a declination of +42 degrees. It is a magnitude 8.6 galaxy which spans 13 arc-minutes in our apparent view. This corresponds to a Milky Way size diameter of 110,000 light years.
We see this galaxy about 25 degrees from edge-on. I believe the near edge is the bottom edge, since the dust lanes are much clearer and not obstructed by dust and stars like the top half.
This galaxy has the nickname of the Sunflower Galaxy. It is a beautiful spiral galaxy that shows intricate details in its rather undefined spiral arms. Because it lacks traditional spiral arms, it belongs to a class of galaxies known as
flocculent spiral galaxies. Within the galaxy, some areas glow bluish from clusters of bright young stars, while some areas glow reddish due to emission nebulae of hot ionized hydrogen gas.
Note the unusual dust lane at the very bottom of the disk that for some reason is almost straight instead of arc-shaped.
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