Galaxies
NGC 4631 Whale Galaxy in Canes Venatici

NGC 4631 is one of those galaxies that do actually resemble the object after which they are named, namely a whale and its young. NGC 4631 is approximately 25 million lightyears distant and pver 100,000 lightyears in diameter.
It is a barred spiral galaxy seen edge-on, with striking dust lanes. The small elliptical galaxy NGC 4627 has warped the disk of NGC 4631. Its gravity has drawn matter out of the larger galaxy, causing extensive star formation

This image is the result of 3 hours of data capture, over 2 evenings in April 2020.

ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera, through an 8-inch Teleskop-Service Ritchey-Chretien reflector

Date: 19/04/2020

Photographer: Graham Wilcock

NGC 4631 Whale Galaxy in Canes Venatici

NGC 4631 is one of those galaxies that do actually resemble the object after which they are named, namely a whale and its young. NGC 4631 is approximately 25 million lightyears distant and pver 100,000 lightyears in diameter.
It is a barred spiral galaxy seen edge-on, with striking dust lanes. The small elliptical galaxy NGC 4627 has warped the disk of NGC 4631. Its gravity has drawn matter out of the larger galaxy, causing extensive star formation

This image is the result of 3 hours of data capture, over 2 evenings in April 2020.

ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera, through an 8-inch Teleskop-Service Ritchey-Chretien reflector

Date: 19/04/2020

Photographer: Graham Wilcock