M-63 is a large, bright type SAbc spiral galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). It lies approximately 30 million light years from Earth and is 98,000 light years in diameter. It is inclined approximately 30 degrees from edge-on. It was discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1779 and was promptly added to Messier's catalog as number 63. It derives its common name "The Sunflower Galaxy" because its spiral arms, rather than being continuous, are broken into numerous clumps. Because of this M-63 is called a "flocculent" galaxy.
This image, acquired on April 23, 2023, is a 1 hour integration of 90 second exposures through the Celestron C-11 at f/6.3 using the Starizona f/6.3 Reducer/Corrector III and the ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro color camera operating at -15 degrees below ambient temperature, binned 1 X 1 at Gain 100. Guided, captured and combined using Maxim DL5 Pro. Post processed using PhotoShop CS2, Gradient XTerminator, StarShrink, Carboni's Astro Tools and NoiseWare.