Galaxy M74 or NGC 628 is located in the Pisces constellation. Now astronomers know hundreds and thousands of galaxies within any constellation, but this galaxy is special.
Firstly, not many galaxies can be seen with your own eyes — it is visible in amateur telescopes. But it is visible at the limit — it is guessed when looking at it with peripheral vision, and it is for this feature that it received the name «Phantom Galaxy».
Secondly, the «Phantom Galaxy» M74 is a classic example of a spiral galaxy, which is visible from the Milky Way Galaxy in front — flat. Others — even closer and brighter "star cities" — the Andromeda Nebula, the Triangulum Galaxy, the Bode Galaxy in Ursa Major — all of them are visible in half a turn.
In recent years, the «Phantom Galaxy» has delighted scientists with supernova explosions three times — in 2002, in 2003 and in 2013. For astrophysicists, this is "just some kind of holiday." Thanks to a series of these events, the distance to the M74 galaxy was measured quite accurately — 35 million light years.
It is worth noting that the «Phantom Galaxy» itself is somewhat more modest than the Milky Way and the Andromeda Nebula. It contains about 100 billion stars (our Galaxy has about 200 billion stars), although it is only slightly smaller than the Milky Way in size.
