Starburst Galaxy Messier
94
From
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
Beautiful island
universe Messier 94 lies a
mere 15 million light-years distant in the northern constellation of the
hunting dogs, Canes
Venatici.
A popular target for
earth-based astronomers, the face-on spiral galaxy is about 30,000 light-years
across, with spiral arms sweeping through the outskirts of its broad
disk.
But this Hubble Space Telescope
field of view spans about 7,000 light-years or so across M94's central
region.
The sharp close-up
examines the galaxy's compact, bright nucleus and prominent inner dust lanes,
surrounded by a remarkable bluish ring of young, massive stars.
The massive stars in the
ring are all likely less than 10 million years old, indicating the galaxy
experienced a well-defined era of rapid star formation.
As a result, while the
small, bright nucleus is typical of the Seyfert class
of active galaxies, M94 is also known as a starburst galaxy.
Because M94 is
relatively nearby, astronomers can explore in detail reasons for the
galaxy's burst of star formation.
