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Messier 64 (Black Eye Galaxy)



Name: Messier 64
Nickname: Black Eye Galaxy
Object Type: Spiral Galaxy
Constellation: Coma Berenices
Magnitude: 8.5
Object Size: 11 x 6 arcminutes
Comment: Evil Eye Galaxy, M64, NGC 4826, PGC 44182, UGC 8062
. .
Date Taken: 2020-07-21
Camera ZWO ASI071 (.91 arc-sec/pixel)
Exposure: 45 min
Telescope (Optics):   AstroPhysics 155mm (6.1 in) EDF f/7
Focal Length (FL): 1085mm
Field of View(FOV):   TBD
Mount: MI-250 Mount, ZWO ASI290 Off Axis Guider
Quick Notes: inclined 60 degrees to our line-of-sight
Location: Chiefland Astronomy Village, Florida
More information:  Digging Deeper

Object Information:
Discovered by Edward Pigott and by Johann Elert Bode in 1779, by Charles Messier in 1780
M64 is a type 2 Seyfert galaxy.
A dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus gave rise to its nicknames of the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy.

A soft X-ray source has been detected at the nucleus.
Galaxy consists of two very unusual counter-rotating disks that are approximately equal in mass.

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