Hubble Space Telescope Observes Messier 64 | Astronomy

NASA has released a stunning image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the spiral galaxy Messier 64.

This Hubble image shows Messier 64, a spiral galaxy located some 17 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. This color composite was made from separate exposures taken in the visible, near-infrared and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Five filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Lee / PHANGS-HST Team / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Messier 64 was discovered by the English astronomer Edward Pigott in March 1779, and independently by the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode in April of the same year, as well as by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1780.

This galaxy lies approximately 17 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices.

Also known as M64, LEDA 44182 and NGC 4826, it has a diameter of 54,000 light-years.

With an apparent magnitude of 9.8, Messier 64 can be spotted with a moderately sized telescope.

Easily identified by the spectacular dark band of dust partially obscuring its bright nucleus, the galaxy is characterized by its bizarre internal motion.

This strange behavior can be attributed to a merger between Messier 64 and a satellite galaxy over a billion years ago.

“Messier 64 is known by astronomers for its strange internal motion,” members of the Hubble science team said.

“The gas in the outer regions of this galaxy and the gas in its inner regions are rotating in opposite directions, which might be related to a recent merger.”

“New stars are forming in the region where the oppositely rotating gases collide, are compressed, and then contract.”