101 Must-See Cosmic Objects: M94

Nestled between the two brightest stars in Canes Venatici lies M94, a beautiful spiral galaxy 16 million light-years distant. Pierre Méchain discovered M94 on March 22, 1781, and communicated its position to Charles Messier. Messier saw a “nebula” with a bright center surrounded by a condensed halo. But William Parsons, Earl of Rosse, found the “nebula” broken into patches — suggesting that the “object will probably turn out to be a spiral” &mda

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