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Messier 64

This dusty galaxy is also known as the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy.

Distance

17 million light-years

Apparent Magnitude

9.8

constellation

Coma Berenices

object type

Spiral Galaxy

A dusty-dark spiral galaxy with a bright-white core. Its spiral arms are dotted with bright-blue clusters of stars and reddish clouds.
This new Hubble image of Messier 64 (released on March 20, 2026) includes ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths of light from Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.
NASA, CSA, ESA, F. Belfiore (European Southern Observatory – Germany), J. Lee (Space Telescope Science Institute), A. Leroy (The Ohio State University), and D. Thilker (The Johns Hopkins University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Easily identified by the spectacular band of dark dust that partially obscures its bright core, Messier 64, or the Black Eye Galaxy, is characterized by its bizarre internal motion. The gas in the outer regions of this spiral galaxy is rotating in the opposite direction from the gas and stars in its inner regions. This strange behavior may be the result of a merger between M64 and a satellite galaxy over a billion years ago.

New stars are forming in the region where the oppositely rotating gases collide, are compressed, and then contract. Particularly noticeable in this stunning Hubble image of the galaxy’s core are recently formed hot, blue stars and pink clouds of glowing hydrogen gas that fluoresce when exposed to ultraviolet light from the newly-formed stars.

English astronomer Edward Pigott first spotted M64 in March of 1719, just 12 days before German astronomer Johann Elert Bode, and roughly a year before Charles Messier independently rediscovered it in March of 1780. The galaxy is located 17 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices. The best time of year to look for the Black Eye Galaxy is May. Its apparent magnitude of 9.8 requires a moderately sized telescope and dark sky site.

Left: Hubble image of M64. A dusty-dark spiral galaxy with a bright-white core. Its spiral arms are dotted with bright-blue clusters of stars and reddish clouds. Right: Hubble and Webb image of M64. A massive spiral galaxy glows with a yellow core, surrounded by arms full of orange-brown dust and pink and blue patches of star formation. Framed by a haze of dark dust, the galaxy shines against black space dotted with a few stars.
The image at right is a composite view from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope. It shows Messier 64 captured at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths by Webb, while Hubble’s image shows the galaxy in ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. These observations were taken to learn more about star formation in nearby galaxies.
NASA, CSA, ESA, F. Belfiore (European Southern Observatory – Germany), J. Lee (Space Telescope Science Institute), A. Leroy (The Ohio State University), and D. Thilker (The Johns Hopkins University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

For more information about Hubble’s observations of M64, see:

locator star chart for M64
This star chart for M64 represents the view from mid-northern latitudes for the given month and time.
Image courtesy of Stellarium
A star chart shows M64 as seen from the Southern Hemisphere in the northern night sky in May at 10pm.
This star chart for M64 represents the view from mid-southern latitudes for the given month and time.
Image courtesy of Stellarium

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