M94 - CAT'S EYE GALAXY

Messier 94 (NGC 4736), sometimes called the Cat's Eye Galaxy or Croc's Eye Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy located approximately 16 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1781 and cataloged by Charles Messier shortly afterward. M94 is a compact, bright galaxy with a visual magnitude of about 8.2, making it one of the brighter Messier galaxies. The galaxy is notable for possessing a prominent ring of active star formation surrounding its bright nucleus, known as a starburst ring. This inner ring, about 70 arcseconds in diameter, is intensely blue and contains a high concentration of young, massive stars and HII regions. The ring structure gives M94 its distinctive eye-like appearance. Beyond the bright inner disk, M94 also possesses a faint, extensive outer ring of stars that was discovered through deep imaging. This outer ring was originally thought to be a closed ring but has since been reinterpreted as a complex structure of tightly wound spiral arms visible only in deep exposures. M94 is classified as a LINER galaxy, with a mildly active nucleus. The galaxy has an unusual mass distribution: studies suggest that M94 may have little or no dark matter in its outer regions, which would make it a rare exception to the general rule that galaxies are embedded in massive dark matter halos. This finding remains debated. M94 spans about 50,000 light-years in diameter including the faint outer structure. In amateur telescopes, M94 appears as a bright, round glow with a very luminous, almost stellar core surrounded by a softer halo. The starburst ring is visible as a bright zone surrounding the nucleus in 8-inch and larger telescopes.

M94 spans approximately 50,000 light-years in diameter with a visual magnitude of 8.2, located about 16 million light-years from Earth.