The Black Eye Galaxy (M64)

Posted by Steve Pastor
on Saturday, August 9, 2014

Messier 64, often called The Black Eye Galaxy due to the concentration of dark dust in the galaxies center, is found in the constellation Coma Berenices. Images by the Hubble Space Telescope suggest that there are many HII and star forming regions in this dusty part of the galaxy. The interstellar medium of M64 consists of two counter-rotating disks, whereas the stars exhibit no measurable counter rotation. The image was a total of 5 h 20 min exposure taken with a TeleVue 140 f/5 refractor and SBIG ST2000xcm CCD camera on an Astro-Physics 1200 mount (32 x 10 min lights @ -20 degrees; 20 darks; 64 flats; 64 bias). Sub-exposures taken on April 29th, May 21th, and May 27th 2014. Image acquisition with MaxIm DL 5 Pro; processed with PixInsight 1.8.2.1098 and Adobe Photoshop CC.

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