Deep Sky Object in Spring
M64 (Black-eye Galaxy in Coma Berenices)
| Date & Time: | Mar 16 2018, from 26:00 to 26:57 JST(+0900) |
| Composed 12 shots with 5 minutes exposed |
| Optical: | Meade 25cm(10") Schmidt-Cassegrain with conversion lens (f=1600mm, F6.3) |
| with BaaderPlanetarium Moon&Skyglow filter |
| Auto-guided with Meade LX200 Equatorial & Pictor 201XT |
| Digital Camera: | Nikon D810A |
| Location: | Ooizumi, Hokuto city, Yamanashi pref. |
| Camera Settings: | Recording Format...14bit CCD-RAW, converted to 16bit TIFF(2000×2000) |
| Device Size...10×10mm |
| Sensitivity...ISO4000, White Balance...Daylight |
| M64 (NGC4826) / Galaxy, type (R)SA(rs)ab II-III |
|---|
| R.A. | 12h 56m 44.3s (2000.0) |
|---|
| Dec. | +21° 41' 05" (2000.0) |
|---|
| Apparent Size | 10.0×5.4' |
|---|
| Radial Velocity | +403km/s |
|---|
| Magnitude | 8.8 |
|---|
| Distance | 13.4 million light yrs. |
|---|
| Group of Galaxies | - |
|---|
| Other IDs | UGC8062, MCG4-31-1,
PGC44182 |
|---|
M64 (NGC4826) is a bright Messier's galaxy in the constellation of Coma Berenices,
is positioned around the center of a huge triangle formed by Denebora (beta Leonis), Arcturus (alpha Bootis), and Cor Caroli (alpha CVn).
The galaxy has a size of 10 by 5 arc minutes, can be detected easily by binoculars.
And it's the most characteristic feature that the galaxy has the extremely noticeable dark lane at the central region.
This dark cloud has given a nickname of "The Black-eye Galaxy".
However you might need medium-ranged telescopes to see the "black-eye" with naked-eyes.
M64 has a real diameter of about 160 thousand light years, it's fairly larger than that of our Galaxy.
And a distance is estimated about 13 million light years from us.
|
Click on image to enlarge
Molecular Cloud south of M64
| Date & Time: | Feb 21 2026, from 22:58 to 24:50 JST(+0900) |
| Composed 15 shots with 8 minutes exposed |
| Optical: | TAKAHASHI 16cm(6.3") epsilon (f=530mm, F3.3) |
| with IDAS LPS-D1 light-pollution suppression filter |
| Auto-guided with TAKAHASHI JP Equatorial+SBIG STV |
| CMOS Camera: | ZWO ASI2600MC Pro (Cooled temp.: -20°C) |
| Location: | Ooizumi, Hokuto city, Yamanashi pref. |
| Camera Settings: | Recording format...16bit FITS, converted to 16bit TIFF(6248×4176) |
| Device Size...23.5×15.7mm, Gain...100 |
An extremely faint, band-like molecular cloud stretches east-west about 40 arcminutes south of M64 (the Black Eye Galaxy).
Its length exceeds the field of view of this image and extends for more than 5 degrees.
This region lies close to the North Galactic Pole (galactic latitude 84°), where very few molecular clouds of the Milky Way are found,
and it is thought to be a chance concentration within the otherwise sparse interstellar material. No specific catalog designation has been assigned to it.
