Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  M 63  ·  NGC 5055  ·  Sunflower Galaxy
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M63, NGC 5055, Sunflower Galaxy, Doug Summers
M63, NGC 5055, Sunflower Galaxy
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M63, NGC 5055, Sunflower Galaxy

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M63, NGC 5055, Sunflower Galaxy, Doug Summers
M63, NGC 5055, Sunflower Galaxy
Powered byPixInsight

M63, NGC 5055, Sunflower Galaxy

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Description

A mess of a galaxy, Messier 63 appears to be in a state of collision.   Similar to the Black Eye galaxy, there is copious dust & gas covering the face.   There are tidal streamers on both sides of the galaxy (below the galaxy in this image), and an extended haze of chaotic stellar dispersal.  

M63 itself is a flocculent spiral, containing some 400 billion stars.   It lies 30 million light-years away in Canes Venatici.

I've left the background just a bit higher than I normally would to highlight those tidal tails.

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  • M63, NGC 5055, Sunflower Galaxy, Doug Summers
    Original
  • M63, NGC 5055, Sunflower Galaxy, Doug Summers
    D
  • Final
    M63, NGC 5055, Sunflower Galaxy, Doug Summers
    E

D

Description: reduced color saturation in the galaxy

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E

Description: SPCC & BXT linear deconvolution. Also cropped just a bit tighter than the original.

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M63, NGC 5055, Sunflower Galaxy, Doug Summers