Sunflower Galaxy (M63)

Sunflower Galaxy (M63) — galaxy, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.

Instead of two clean arms, a tangle of short golden filaments swirls around its core like the seeds of a sunflower — a galaxy wrapped in a faint stream from a shredded dwarf.

Type
Flocculent spiral (SA(rs)bc)
Distance
29 million light-years
Note
Dozens of short, feathery arm segments

Seeing Sunflower Galaxy (M63) in real time

Sunflower Galaxy (M63) is placed at its true position on the sky and at its real measured distance, not as a flat backdrop. Fly out from the Sun in the live 3D view and watch it change from a point of light into structure as you approach, with the scale bar showing just how far out you have travelled.

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