M94 — Hubble · Messier 94 · ESA/Hubble & NASA

Messier 94

Galaxy in Canes Venatici · 16 million light-years

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Type	Galaxy
Constellation	Canes Venatici
Right ascension	12h 50m 53s
Declination	+41° 07′
Object distance	16 million light-years
Apparent magnitude	8.2
Apparent size	7.7′ (arc-minutes)
Approx. true diameter	35,837 light-years across
Also known as	M94 · NGC 4736

Messier 94 is a galaxy (also catalogued as NGC 4736) in the constellation Canes Venatici — an island of billions of stars far beyond our own Milky Way. It was recorded by Charles Messier in his famous catalogue of 110 deep-sky objects. It spans roughly 7.7 arc-minutes on the sky. At about magnitude 8.2, it shows up well in a small backyard telescope.

Although it appears about 7.7′ wide on the sky, its real span is roughly 35,837 light-years — the difference is a measure of how far away it lies.

Observing Messier 94

Messier 94 lies in the constellation Canes Venatici and is best placed in the evening sky around April. Its maximum altitude above the horizon depends on your latitude. It is best placed for observers in the northern hemisphere, and sits low for those far south. A small backyard telescope will show it; binoculars may hint at it under dark skies. Note that the listed magnitude is spread across the whole object — diffuse galaxies and nebulae are often harder to see than the number alone suggests, so dark, moonless skies help a great deal.

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Sources

Position, magnitude and angular size from the OpenNGC catalogue (Mattia Verga).
Object identity cross-referenced with SIMBAD (CDS, Strasbourg).
Image credits and the original observation source are linked with each photograph.

Related objects

Andromeda Galaxy — galaxy
Triangulum Galaxy — galaxy
Whirlpool Galaxy — galaxy
Sombrero Galaxy — galaxy
Messier 110 — galaxy