Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  M 94  ·  NGC 4736
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M94, The two-ringed galaxy in Canes Venatici, Steven Bellavia
M94, The two-ringed galaxy in Canes Venatici
Powered byPixInsight

M94, The two-ringed galaxy in Canes Venatici

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M94, The two-ringed galaxy in Canes Venatici, Steven Bellavia
M94, The two-ringed galaxy in Canes Venatici
Powered byPixInsight

M94, The two-ringed galaxy in Canes Venatici

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

M94, NGC 4736, is a spiral galaxy located 16 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781, and catalogued by Charles Messier two days later. Although some references describe M94 as a barred spiral galaxy, the "bar" structure appears to be more oval-shaped.

M94 has two ring structures with an inner ring  5,400 light-years in diameter and an outer ring with a diameter of 45,000 light-years. These rings appear to form at resonance points in the disk of the galaxy. The inner ring is the site of strong star formation activity and is sometimes referred to as a starburst ring. This star formation is fueled by gas driven dynamically into the ring by the inner oval-shaped bar-like structure.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

M94, The two-ringed galaxy in Canes Venatici, Steven Bellavia

In these public groups

Imaged with APT

In these collections

Galaxies