M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy

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The Sunflower (NGC 5055) is in Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs), somewhat below the handle of the Big Dipper. It is a spiral galaxy with a magnitude of 8.6, and is 12 x 7 arc-minutes in size.  It is 37 million light years distant, and is part of the M51 galaxy group.

This image is a composite of ten 2x2 binned 2 minute exposures. Taken with the ST-8E and 12" LX200 at f/10.  CCDSharp was used during processing. Taken at the ARGO site in central Oregon on Apr 1, 2000.