M106: Spiral Galaxy in Canes Venatici

This deep exposure captures M106 (NGC 4258), a prominent and bright intermediate spiral galaxy located roughly 23 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. The image highlights the galaxy’s intensely bright, active core—powered by a supermassive black hole—surrounded by a warm, yellowish central bulge.

Sweeping outward from the center are distinct, tightly wound spiral arms defined by thick, dark dust lanes. The outer fringes of the galaxy are heavily studded with bright blue star clusters and pinkish regions of active star formation. Visible in the lower left of the frame is the small galaxy NGC 4248, a possible satellite of M106, adding depth to the rich background field.

M106 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. It is about 23.7 million light-years away, has an apparent magnitude of 8.4 and covers about 18.6 by 7.2 arcminutes. Its active nucleus is classified as a Type 2 Seyfert, around a supermassive black hole of about 39 million solar masses, and water masers in its disc gave the first direct distance measurement to a galaxy, an independent anchor of the cosmic distance ladder.

Stacked and processed in PixInsight.