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Messier 106 (M106, also NGC 4258, UGC 7353, PGC 39600) is a spiral galaxy ~25 million light-years away in Canes Venatici, discovered in 1781 by Pierre Mechain.
It measures ~135,000 light-years across, similar to Andromeda, making it one of the nearest large, bright galaxies. Nearby NGC 4217 is likely a companion.
M106 features an active nucleus as a Type II Seyfert galaxy, with a ~40-million-solar-mass supermassive black hole, showing emission lines in its spectrum.
A detected water maser (microwave laser equivalent) signals dense, warm molecular gas, aiding accretion studies in active galaxies.
Radio/X-ray observations show two anomalous spiral arms, misaligned with but intersecting the galactic plane, containing ~10 million solar masses of gas ejected by the black hole's jets.
Jets produce shock waves that heat and expel gas; over the next 300 million years, all central gas will be ejected (most already has), resulting in low star formation (~0.1 solar masses/year, 10x below Milky Way's rate).
Two supernovae: SN 1981K (Type II) and SN 2014bc (Type IIP).
Image 1: Hubble composite optical image of M106 using filters at 435 nm (B-band, blue), 555/606 nm (V-band, green), 814 nm (I-band, red), and Hฮฑ (red) for ionized hydrogen.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and R. Gendler (for the Hubble Heritage Team). Acknowledgement: J. GaBany