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M 63 - NGC 5055 - Sun Flower Galaxy         
Canes Venatici
Penryn, California
January/February 2006
M 250 @ f9.6  (ag, ST-4)
ST-10XME LRGB 15-20-15-15  minutes
Image down sampled 0.5x

M63 was the discovered by Pierre M�chain on June 14, 1779. Charles Messier included it in his catalog on the same day.

M63, also known as the Sunflower galaxy, was listed by Lord Rosse as one of 14 "spiral nebulae" discovered to 1850. It is classified as type Sb or Sc, displaying a patchy spiral pattern.  Distance is 32 Mly.

M63 is part of the M51 group.