M94

spiral galaxy with a bright ring · in Canes Venatici

14 million light-years from Earth

A very bright centre ringed by young star clusters, inside a smooth, bright oval disc. Far out, a faint ring about 45,000 light-years across circles it. It was long thought to be a closed ring of stars, but a 2009 study found it is more likely spiral arms, in an outer disc that holds almost a quarter of the galaxy's mass in stars.

• 14 million light-years · its bright disc about 32,000 light-years across
• its black hole weighs about 16 million Suns (JWST, 2025)

kind

galaxy

catalogue

M94 · NGC 4736

size

31,700 light-years across