Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  M 63  ·  NGC 5055  ·  Sunflower galaxy
M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy, Jason Guenzel
M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy
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M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy

M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy, Jason Guenzel
M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy
Powered byPixInsight

M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy

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Description

Cataloged as part of Charles Messier’s list of notable night sky objects, Messier 63 has since picked up the nickname “The Sunflower Galaxy”.

This type of spiral galaxy, with an incoherent, fluffy appearance is known a flocculent-type. Though more recent studies in infrared reveal spiral arms, those are not apparent optically. The extended halo (just barely visible here to the upper left of the core) indicates a past galactic interaction due to its offset and warped loop.

M63 is “only” 30 million light years away, and appears as one of the larger galaxies in the night sky. It’s proximity gets us a nice and fairly detailed view through an amateur telescope.

As always, enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments!

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