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

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Sunflower M63 HaLRGB, Jonathan Aranow
Sunflower M63 HaLRGB
Powered byPixInsight

Sunflower M63 HaLRGB

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Description

M63, also known as the Sunflower galaxy, is a “flocculent” spiral galaxy. Although it only has two arms, many appear to be tightly winding around its core. The arms shine with the radiation from recently formed blue stars. The stars in the central aspect of this galaxy rotate around the core so quickly that they should shoot off into space. The reason they stay held in the galactic mass is an effect of “dark matter.”

The galaxy is located roughly 27 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is about the same size as our Milky Way.

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Sunflower M63 HaLRGB, Jonathan Aranow