M94

M94 — galaxy, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.

A spiral wrapped in a glowing ring of new stars around a bright golden core — and oddly short of the dark-matter halo almost every other galaxy carries.

Type
Ringed spiral (SA(r)ab)
Distance
15 million light-years
Note
A brilliant inner ring of starbirth

Seeing M94 in real time

M94 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.

Interactive universe A living map of the solar system
Interactive universe
Waking the solar system…