Inspired by beautiful images of the enigmatic M64, I thought I'd try to capture it as I've not imaged it before. This image was obtained over several nights due to the short hours of darkness at present. I used an IR blocking filter for the first time and to be honest I can't see much difference apart from a rather nice salmon pink tinge to the galaxy. Not sure yet whether this is real or a filter artifact - probably the latter. I am always interested to investigate my targets and here is what I have found out about the intriguing central regions of the galaxy.

The Black Eye Galaxy in Coma Berenices was discovered by Bode in April 1779. M64 is famous for its conspicuous dark structure which is a prominent dust feature obscuring the stars behind. The main spiral pattern contains a middle aged stellar population. This dust feature is well visible with a small telescope.

M64 was recently shown to have two counterrotating systems of stars and gas in its disk: The inner part is about 6,000 light years across and is rubbing along the inner edge of the outer disk, which rotates opposite and extends up to at least 40,000 light years. The fascinating internal motions of M64 are thought to be the result of a collision between a small galaxy and a large galaxy - where the resultant mix has not yet settled down.

The peculiar dust lane on one side of the nucleus (also a site of star formation, as shown by the blue knots imbedded in it) may be caused by material from a former companion which has been accreted but has yet to settle into the mean orbital plane of the disk. (Source NOAA).

M64 is classified a SB type galaxy. It is a relatively quiet galaxy just starting a second wave of star formation. Distance estimates vary from 12 mly to 44 mly. Image, as usual, acquired and processed with Astroart through my 10" reflector / MX5C OSC camera - 110 minutes exposure.