M64 - Blog Posts

bsuobservatory

1 year ago

The Black Eye Galaxy. Image Credit: Shane Johnson | Jamie Kern | BSU Observatory.

Imaged in luminance and photometric R, V and B filters. Total exposure time ~25 minutes.

The Black Eye Galaxy (M64) is a relatively nearby spiral with an extraordinary amount of dark dust partially obscuring its nucleus. Red hues peeking out in these dust lanes are caused by reddening when the dust scatters the bluer light from stars embedded within it. The color difference between the center and spiral arms is due to an average age difference between the stars in these locations--blue stars have short lives, so as the star population ages the overall color appears more red.