An Abrasive Collision Gives One Galaxy a “Black Eye”

Dust Band Around the Nucleus of "Black Eye Galaxy" M64

A collision of two galaxies has left a merged star system with an unusual appearance as well as bizarre internal motions. Messier 64 (M64) has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames of the "Black Eye" or...

HST Image Overlay on Ground-based Image

This picture of M64 is a color composite of CCD images from the 0.9-meter telescope of the Kitt Peak National Observatory, near Tucson, Arizona, taken in January 1997. The image has been rotated and an overlay of the HST image outline has been superposed.