Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  NGC 4627  ·  NGC 4631  ·  NGC 4656  ·  NGC 4657  ·  Whale Galaxy
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NGC 4631 & NGC 4656 - 2017, Gary Imm
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NGC 4631 & NGC 4656 - 2017

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 4631 & NGC 4656 - 2017, Gary Imm
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 4631 & NGC 4656 - 2017

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Description

NGC 4631, at the upper left, is a spectacular bright edge-on spiral galaxy, only 25 million light-years away in the northern constellation Canes Venatici. It is similar in size to our own Milky Way. The galaxy has a disk of young bluish star clusters and a core of old yellow stars. The dark dust clouds are easy to see throughout the galaxy. A companion galaxy, the small elliptical NGC 4627, lies just to the left. The gravitational forces between these two galaxies, nicknamed the Whale and its Pup, are causing the deformed wedge shape of the Whale. At the lower right are two interacting galaxies, NGC 4656 & 4657, known collectively as the Hockey Stick or Crowbar. These galaxies have also been deformed due to their interacting gravitational forces. Although it looks like one object, one galaxy is the stick and one is the blade. Note the dim extension of stars to the lower left of the object. Like the Whale galaxy, both of these galaxies have a bluish tint due to their young star clusters.

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NGC 4631 & NGC 4656 - 2017, Gary Imm

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