Astr110 Photography Projects, Spring 2005

M95, Jane Cha

The M95 is a barred spiral galaxy and it is in the constellation Leo; a member of the Leo 1 group which also contains M96, M105 and a number of other fainter galaxies. The M95, together with its neighbor galaxy M96 was discovered by Pierre Méchain on March 20, 1781.

The M95 is 38 milllion light years away from the earth. This beautiful round galaxy is large and bright with very pronounced sprial structure. The circular arms of the whirls makes a complete ring and a band extends across the nebula which makes it a barred spiral galaxy. It gets increasingly brighter towards the center nuleus and it was registered by Messier in his catalog as a "feeble nebula, without a star". The M95 galaxy's linear size is approximately 56,000 light years.

References:
"The Messier Catalog"
"The Advanced Observing Program at Kitt Peak Visitor Center"

Link:
http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m095.html
http://www.seds.org/messier/Mdes/dm095.html
http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/m95.html