Anne Beiter and Jon Shallop/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

Some folks look at this galaxy and think its been punched in the eye, apparently, for it is nicknamed the Black Eye Galaxy. Then again, some people call it the Sleeping Beauty Galaxy. We humans love to name things.

This view of the spiral galaxy, officially named M64, was taken recently by amateur observers Anne Beiter and Jon Shallop during a night of observing at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. A program there introduces amateurs to the art and science of astronomy and astrophotography.

M64 is currently experiencing a tremendous rate of star formation. This appears to be due, at least in part, to an odd fact: Stars and gas in the outer part of the galaxy orbit in the opposite direction of stuff nearer the center, setting up a region of friction at the boundary. [About the Kitt Peak Program]

-- Robert Roy Britt