Evil Eye Galaxy

Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI); Acknowledgment: S. Smartt (Institute of Astronomy) and D. Richstone (U. Michigan), Posted on: Monday, 28 July 2008, 08:20 CDT Download full size image

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.

More Images

Mars
Impact Crater Filled with Layered Deposits .This image shows an impact crater in Utopia Planitia, in the northern hemisphere of Mars, that is fi...

---

Universe
The Hidden Fires of the Flame Nebula.This image, the first to be released publicly from VISTA, the world’s largest survey telescope, sh...

---