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A Galactic Sunflower
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Name: Messier 63, NGC 5055, Sunflower galaxy
Description: Spiral Galaxy
Position (J2000): RA 13h 15m 50.09s Dec 42° 1' 39.01"
Constellation: Canes Venatici
Distance: 35 million light years
Visual magnitude: 9.3
Field of view: 1.83 x 1.71 arcminutes
Orientation: North is 11.6° right of vertical
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release date: September 7, 2015



WideField View: G1101
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ABOUT THIS IMAGE:

The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in a new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower. So the nickname for this cosmic object - the Sunflower Galaxy - is no coincidence.

Discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1779, the galaxy later made it as the 63rd entry into fellow French astronomer Charles Messier's famous catalogue, published in 1781. The two astronomers spotted the Sunflower Galaxy's glow in the small, northern constellation Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dogs). We now know this galaxy is about 27 million light-years away and belongs to the M51 Group - a group of galaxies, named after its brightest member, Messier 51, another spiral-shaped galaxy dubbed the Whirlpool Galaxy.

Galactic arms, sunflowers and whirlpools are only a few examples of nature's apparent preference for spirals. For galaxies like Messier 63 the winding arms shine bright because of the presence of recently formed, blue-white giant stars, readily seen in this Hubble image.