Messier 64 - The Black Eye Galaxy

This is Messier 64, the so called "Black Eye Galaxy."  Some call it the Evil Eye.  If you zoom in, you can make out the black eye staring at us from 18.3 million light years away.  I really like the way the black eye renders some depth to the image, rather than being entirely flat.  You can get a sense of it extending away from us.  The dark band comes from light absorbing dust in one of the spiral arms of the galaxy.  Astronomers debate why this arm is there and some have speculated that this galaxy cannibalized another one.  Cosmic cannibalization.  Awesome.

Photo Details
Messier 64
May 28, 2013
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera
6 sub frames at 1 minute per sub.
Total exposure time = 6 minutes
Image stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image processing in Fitswork