Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Leo (Leo)  ·  Contains:  M 95  ·  NGC 3351
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M95, Gary Imm
M95, Gary Imm

M95

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M95, Gary Imm
M95, Gary Imm

M95

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Description

This Messier Object, also known as NGC 3351, is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Leo at a declination of +12 degrees.  It is located 32 million light years away and is slightly smaller and dimmer than M96 (see this image for a view of both of them).

M95 has a magnitude of 9.7 and a diameter of 70,000 light years. It is the 89th brightest galaxy in the sky and appears to us midway between edge-on and face-on. Both arms spiral outward for 360 degrees from each end of the bar.  The spiraling pair of arms from a circular inner ring.  The outer disk is punctuated by blue star clouds and pink HII regions.

The most fascinating part of this galaxy to me is the bright nuclear ring around the core.  My collection of galaxies which have these nuclear rings is shown here.

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