M106 has ordinary spiral arms containing stars and star-forming regions, plus an extra pair of unusual features called anomalous arms. These are mainly gas heated by shocks associated with jets from the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole, and they emit X-rays, radio waves, and visible light. Hydrogen-alpha emission can come from both star-forming regions and shocked gas, so the small red patches in my image should not all be attributed to the black hole.

Another fun fact is that back in 1999 astronomers used radio emissions from water vapour molecules orbiting near the core of the galaxy (called water masers) to accurately measure the galaxy’s distance.

Close by to M106 is NGC 4248. Often galaxies look smaller in images because they’re more distant, but NGC 4248 is actually a satellite galaxy of M106, meaning they’re neighbours in space. NGC 4248 is just a few thousand light-years across, making it a tiddler compared to M106.

The other major galaxy in my image is NGC 4217. Unlike NGC 4248, this galaxy is in the background, as with a distance of 60 million light-years from Earth it’s about three times further away than M106 and NGC 4248. We’re seeing this galaxy edge-on, and have a good view of a dark, dusty lane that’s cutting across its disk.