A bright spiral galaxy of the northern sky, Messier 63 is nearby, about 30 million light-years distant toward the loyal constellation Canes Venatici. Also cataloged as NGC 5055, the majestic island universe is nearly 100,000 light-years across, about the size of our own Milky Way. Its bright core and majestic spiral arms lend the galaxy its popular name, The Sunflower Galaxy. This exceptionally deep exposure also follows faint loops and curling star streams far into the galaxy's halo. Extending nearly 180,000 light-years from the galactic center, the star streams are likely remnants of tidally disrupted satellites of M63. Other satellite galaxies of M63 can be spotted in the remarkable wide-field image, including dwarf galaxies, which could contribute to M63's star streams in the next few billion years.

Landsat imagery is provided to the public as a joint project between NASA and USGS. A recent industry report on landsat satellite imagery data estimates that total annual value to the economy of $2.19 billion, far exceeding the multi-year total cost of building, launching, and managing Landsat satellites and sensors. The value is derived from consumer use of the data. The objective of this endpoint is to give you an easy to use taste of what Landsat imagery data can provide. There are more complicate APIs available if you want to build models on top of satellite imagery, apply machine-learning, or minimize clouds in your image.