Object Analysis

The Sunflower Galaxy (Messier 63) is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1779. It is a flocculent spiral galaxy, consisting of a central disc surrounded by many short spiral arm segments, distinct from the grand design spiral pattern of M51.

The name "Sunflower" comes from the arrangement of the spiral arms, which resemble the pattern of seeds in the center of a sunflower. The galaxy is part of the M51 Group, a group of galaxies that also includes the Whirlpool Galaxy.

M63 has active star formation regions in its spiral arms. In 1971, a magnitude 11.8 supernova appeared in one of the arms. It is roughly 27 million light-years distant and contains over 400 billion stars.