{"id":19339,"date":"2021-06-23T19:13:14","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T19:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=92913"},"modified":"2021-06-23T19:13:14","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T19:13:14","slug":"pictures-of-the-sunflower-galaxy","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/pictures-of-the-sunflower-galaxy\/","title":{"rendered":"Pictures of the Sunflower Galaxy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"M63 <\/p>\n

Messier 63 is also known as the Sunflower Galaxy due to the wispy spiral arms and bright centre that give it a floral appearance.<\/p>\n

It may be a spiral galaxy, but a\u00a0closer look at pictures of the Sunflower Galaxy reveals that its spiral arms are not distinct, defined structures like those of the Whirlpool Galaxy<\/a>, for example.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/div>\n
<\/i> A Hubble Space Telescope image of the Sunflower Galaxy. Credit: ESA\/Hubble & NASA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/span><\/div>\n

Instead, it appears to have an indeterminate number of spiral arms bound closely together, and is what\u2019s known as a flocculent spiral galaxy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In fact, the Sunflower Galaxy only really has two spiral arms, but they are wound tightly round and round the galactic core, giving the impression of numerous arms.<\/p>\n

These arms are peppered with hot young stars<\/a> glowing bright blue, indicating that this is very much an active galaxy and a region of rapid star formation.<\/p>\n

\"M63,<\/div>\n
<\/i> M63, The Sunflower Galaxy Kfir Simon, via Tivoli Astro Farm, Namibia, 8\u201313 June 2019. Equipment: Apogee Alta U16M CCD camera, 16-inch Dream Astrograph, Astelco NTM-500 mount<\/span><\/figcaption><\/span><\/div>\n

Messier 63 is located 27 million lightyears away in the constellation Canes Venatici.<\/p>\n

It belongs to the M51 Group of galaxies, named after its brightest member, the aforementioned Whirlpool Galaxy.<\/p>\n

Below is a selection of images of the Sunflower Galaxy captured by astrophotographers and BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/em> readers.<\/p>\n

For help photographing galaxies, read our deep-sky astrophotography<\/a> guide or learn how to fine-tune your images with our tutorial on deep-sky image processing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t forget to send us your images<\/a> or share them with us via Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"M63<\/div>\n
<\/i> M63 Sunflower Galaxy by Mark Griffith, Swindon, Wiltshire, UK. Equipment: Celestron c11 sct, skywatcher NEQ6 pro mount, Atik 383L+ camera, motorised filter wheel and Astronomik LRGB filter set.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/span><\/div>\n
\"M63<\/div>\n
<\/i> M63 Sunflower galaxy and another faint galaxies, unguided. by Juan Pablo Trapero Revert, Vall d\u2019Ebo, Alicante, Spain. Equipment: C9.25 S\/GT, SBIG ST-402ME, unguided CG-5, 0.63x focal reducer, Bahtinov mask for focusing.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/span><\/div>\n
\"M63<\/div>\n
<\/i> M63 by Dan Crowson, Missouri, USA. Equipment: SBIG ST-8300M, Astro-Tech AT90DT at f\/6.7 603mm.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/span><\/div>\n
\"M63<\/div>\n
<\/i> M63 by Dan Crowson, Animas, New Mexico, USA. Equipment: SBIG STF-8300M, Astro-Tech AT12RCT at f\/8 2432mm.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/span><\/div>\n
\"M63,<\/div>\n
<\/i> M63, Sunflower Galaxy by Jos\u00e9 J. Chamb\u00f3, Navas de Estena, Ciudad Real, Spain. Equipment: GSO 8\u2033 f\/3.8 & Canon EOS-100D<\/span><\/figcaption><\/span><\/div>\n
\"Messier<\/div>\n
<\/i> Messier 63 \u2013 The Sunflower Galaxy by Ian Dunbar, UK. Equipment: Orion Optics VX10, Skywatcher AZ-EQ6-GT, Atik 314L+, Baader RGB filters.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/span><\/div>\n
\"The<\/div>\n
<\/i> The Sunflower Galaxy by David Slack, Prudhoe, Northumberland, UK. Equipment: 8\u2033 Celestron F5 Newtonian, SXV-H9 CCD, Canon 1100D DSLR, Sky Watcher HEQ5 pro mount.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/span><\/div>\n
\"Sunflower<\/div>\n
<\/i> Sunflower Galaxy by Mark, Cheltenham, UK. Equipment: Astrotech 8\u2033 RC, ZWO ASI 1600 Pro Mono<\/span><\/figcaption><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Messier 63 is also known as the Sunflower Galaxy due to the wispy spiral arms and bright centre that give it a floral appearance. It may be a spiral galaxy, but a\u00a0closer look at pictures of the Sunflower Galaxy reveals that its spiral arms are not distinct, defined structures like those of the Whirlpool Galaxy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[34],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Messier 63 is also known as the Sunflower Galaxy due to the wispy spiral arms and bright centre that give it a floral appearance. It may be a spiral galaxy, but a\u00a0closer look at pictures of the Sunflower Galaxy reveals that its spiral arms are not distinct, defined structures like those of the Whirlpool Galaxy,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/19339"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}