An abrasive collision gives one galaxy a "black eye"

Esahubble_opo0404a_1024

esahubble_opo0404a February 5th, 2004

Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)

A collision of two galaxies has left a merged star system with an unusual appearance as well as bizarre internal motions. Messier 64 (M64) has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames of the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy. Fine details of the dark band are revealed in this image of the central portion of M64 obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. M64 is well known among amateur astronomers because of its appearance in small telescopes. It was first cataloged in the 18th century by the French astronomer Messier. Located in the northern constellation Coma Berenices, M64 resides roughly 17 million light-years from Earth.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0404a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Black Eye Galaxy Messier 64
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Esahubble_opo0404a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 56m 43.3s
DEC = 21° 41’ 2.4”
Orientation
North is 155.4° CW
Field of View
1.5 x 1.8 arcminutes
Constellation
Coma Berenices

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Hubble (WFPC2) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (H-alpha) 656.0 nm
Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 547.0 nm
Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (B) 450.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Esahubble_opo0404a_1280
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ID
opo0404a
Subject Category
C.5.1.1  
Subject Name
Black Eye Galaxy, Messier 64
Credits
NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)
Release Date
2004-02-05T15:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0404a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Distance in light years from NED
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, H-alpha, V, B
Central Wavelength
814, 656, 547, 450
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
194.180567622, 21.6839861123
Reference Dimension
897.0, 1065.0
Reference Pixel
449.5, 533.5
Scale
-2.77025838057e-05, 2.77025838057e-05
Rotation
-155.40000000000003
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
WCS info from NASA/Hubble
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
opo0404a
Metadata Date
2004-01-14T09:05:27-05:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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