Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Coma Berenices (Com)  ·  Contains:  Black Eye Galaxy  ·  Evil Eye Galaxy  ·  M 64  ·  NGC 4826
The Black Eye Galaxy, AlBroxton
The Black Eye Galaxy
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The Black Eye Galaxy

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Description

The Black Eye Galaxy (also called Sleeping Beauty Galaxy; designated Messier 64, M64, or NGC 4826) was discovered by Edward Pigott in March 1779, and independently by Johann Elert Bode in April of the same year, as well as by Charles Messier in 1780. It has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames of the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy. The name Blackeye comes from a dark dust lane that obscures the light near the center of this galaxy. This dust lane is believed to be a site of active star formation. This dust lane is visible even in small telescopes. The distance of this galaxy is not very well known, but best guesses place it at around 20 million light-years from Earth. At magnitude 8.5, the Blackeye can be located on a good night with a pair of binoculars. A large telescope is required to see any real amount of detail in this galaxy.

M64 is well known among amateur astronomers because of its appearance in small telescopes. It is a spiral galaxy in the Coma Berenices constellation.

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    The Black Eye Galaxy, AlBroxton
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The Black Eye Galaxy, AlBroxton

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Allen Broxton
Galaxies