Black Eye Galaxy is a beautiful spiral galaxy located in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1779. It is known by various other names including Sleeping Beauty Galaxy, Messier 64, M64, and NGC 4826 etc.
It has an apparent magnitude of 9.36 and lies at a distance of 24 million light years from Earth. The total area occupied by this galaxy is 10.71 x 5.128 arc minutes.
Quick Facts: –
- The Black Eye Galaxy has a diameter of 51,000 light years and is home to approximately 100 billion stars.
- This galaxy has an enormous light-absorbing dust band in front of its central region. This is the reason why it has been named as the Black Eye Galaxy.
- It is well known among amateur astronomers because it is discernible with small telescopes.
- This galaxy is spinning around at a speed of 300 kilometers per second.
- The inner region of this galaxy has a radius of only about 3,000 light-years and the radius of the outer region is 40,000 light years.
- Messier 64 is a member of the Canes Venatici I Group, also known as the M94 Group or the Canes Venatici Cloud.
- It has two disks which are rotating in opposite directions are roughly equal in mass. These disks rub against each other.
- This rubbing of these disks results in an intense burst of star forming activity.
- This galaxy is also a known radio source which is catalogued as PKS 1254+21.
