Designated New General Catalogue 4826, (Messier 64 or M64 for short) I was discovered by Edward Pigott in March 1779, and independently by Johann Elert Bode in April of the same year, as well as by Charles Messier in 1780. I have a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of my nucleus, giving rise to my nicknames the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy.