Sunflower Galaxy

M63 in Canes Venatici is a flocculent spiral galaxy around 29 million light-years away, its loosely wound arms fragmented into short, patchy star-forming knots rather than the grand sweeping arcs seen in galaxies like M51. This gives it a soft, textured appearance reminiscent of a sunflower head — the origin of its popular name. M63 is a member of the M51 galaxy group and shows a faint extended stellar halo in deep exposures, evidence of past minor mergers.