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M94

Messier 94
Spiral Galaxy

Right Ascension 12h 50m 53s Best Seen 4/1-9/15
Declination 41° 07' 09" Magnitude 9
Constellation Canes Venatici

Actual
Compared
to Milky Way
Distance ~20 million ly --
Actual Brightness 8 billions suns --
Diameter ~30,000 ly ~0.3
Mass -- --
Galactic Type Sb Sbc

What To Look For Through The Telescope


  1. Recommended eyepiece: 40 mm.

  2. When people look through the telescope they should see a fuzzy patch of light. This is the galaxy. If they are having trouble seeing it, have them look at a star near the edge of the field, then look back to the center out of the corner of their eye.

  3. The view through the telescope will not look like photographs of galaxies they may have seen. A photograph of a galaxy may have an exposure of may hours. This long exposure brings out the spiral arms and other details. Our eyes allow the light to collect for only about 1/30 of a second before they refresh themselves and start over again.

  4. This particular galaxy is bright, compact, and nearly circular.


M94 Information


  1. This galaxy was first discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781.

  2. The center of this galaxy is unusually bright, with a ring of newly formed stars around its nucleus.

Home > Galaxies > Spiral > M94 > References top
References
Item Updated Notes
Coordinates 2003-01-16 tweaked with SIMBAD and SEDs
Distance 2003-01-16 apparently difficult to determine, but OK with http://messier.seds.org/m/m094.html
Actual Brightness 2003-01-16 can find no support for this
Diameter 2003-01-16 previously 33 thousand ly – with distance difficult to determine, diameter not certain http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021121.html
Mass --
Galactic Type 2003-01-16 OK with SIMAD, SEDs
Other Information --