Spiral Galaxy M94 (NGC 4736), type Sb,
in Canes Venacity
Right Ascension
12 : 50.9 (h:m)
Declination
+41 : 07 (deg:m)
Distance
14500 (kly)
Visual Brightness
8.2 (mag)
Apparent Dimension
7x3 (arc min)
Spiral galaxy M94 was classified Sab because of its extremely bright inner
region (overexposed in our image).
Clicca sull'immagine per ingrandirla This bright circular disk is surrounded by a
ring of active star-forming regions, traced by blue young star clusters in
color images, which sharply separates it from a much less bright outer ring of
an older yellowish stellar population. In the outskirts, this region however
ends again in a ring with moderate star formation activity, so that M94 is one
of the relatively rare galaxies in which two "waves" of stellar formation can
be observed. In very long exposures, a further very faint ring, about 15 arc
minutes across, becomes visible, a suggestion of which is visible in the DSSM image of M94,
but see also the inset in the Hubble Atlas of Galaxies.
The distance of M94 is not yet well-determined (at least to the knowledge of
the present author). Tully gives about 14 million light years, Burnham 20,
Kenneth Glyn Jones 33 million light years.
![[m94.gif]](large/m94.gif)
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