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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                   2023 July 20   
      
                        M64: The Black Eye Galaxy Close Up   
         Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Processing: Jonathan Lodge   
      
      Explanation: This magnificent spiral galaxy is Messier 64, often called   
      the Black Eye Galaxy or the Sleeping Beauty Galaxy for its dark-lidded   
      appearance in telescopic views. The spiral's central region, about   
      7,400 light-years across, is pictured in this reprocessed image from   
      the Hubble Space Telescope. M64 lies some 17 million light-years   
      distant in the otherwise well-groomed northern constellation Coma   
      Berenices. The enormous dust clouds partially obscuring M64's central   
      region are laced with young, blue star clusters and the reddish glow of   
      hydrogen associated with star forming regions. But imposing clouds of   
      dust are not this galaxy's only peculiar feature. Observations show   
      that M64 is actually composed of two concentric, counter-rotating   
      systems. While all the stars in M64 rotate in the same direction as the   
      interstellar gas in the galaxy's central region, gas in the outer   
      regions, extending to about 40,000 light-years, rotates in the opposite   
      direction. The dusty eye and bizarre rotation are likely the result of   
      a billion year old merger of two different galaxies.   
      
                        Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
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                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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