M94 is classified Sab because of its extremely bright inner region. This bright circular disk is surrounded by a ring of active star-forming regions, traced by blue young star clusters which sharply separates it from a much less bright outer ring of an older yellowish stellar population. In the outskirts, this region however ends again in a ring with moderate star formation activity, so that M94 is one of the relatively rare galaxies in which two "waves" of stellar formation can be observed. In very long exposures, a further very faint ring, about 15 arc minutes across, becomes visible.'
'The distance of M94 is not yet well-determined Tully gives about 14 million light years, Burnham 20, Kenneth Glyn Jones 33 million light years.' Above information from www.obspm.fr.