Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  M 106  ·  NGC 4220  ·  NGC 4226  ·  NGC 4231  ·  NGC 4232  ·  NGC 4248  ·  NGC 4258
A Closer Look At Messier 106, Steven Hanaway
A Closer Look At Messier 106
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A Closer Look At Messier 106

A Closer Look At Messier 106, Steven Hanaway
A Closer Look At Messier 106
Powered byPixInsight

A Closer Look At Messier 106

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Good afternoon everyone! Today's image is a galaxy known and catalogued as Messier 106. This intermediate spiral galaxy can be found in the constellation Canes Venatici about 22-25 million light years away from Earth. This galaxy is classified as a seyfert type 2 galaxy, meaning that the galaxy has an active galactic nucleus and super-massive black hole with the same strong and high absorption emission lines spectroscopically, but that we can see the galaxy unlike other types of quasars. Cool fact about this galaxy is that it has a water vapor mega-maser. A maser is like a laser, just in the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This mega-maser is important, because it has given astronomers a independent method of measuring distances to galaxies, and because of that, this object is an important calibration target for measuring the distances of other galaxies. I hope you like today's image and information, be sure to check back regularly for new uploads, Clear Skies!

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A Closer Look At Messier 106, Steven Hanaway