This object is an edge-on spiral galaxy, 50,000 light years in diameter, located 11 million light years away in the constellation of Centaurus.

This object was a tough one for me, since it has a very low southern declination of almost -50 degrees and transits at a maximum altitude of 10 degrees at my location. The image is blurry with oval stars because of poor seeing and tracking. But one of the things that I enjoy about astrophotography is the interesting stuff you learn when you image and research new objects, and I learned plenty of interesting things with this object:

First, and most importantly, this is the only Caldwell object which has a 2017 pop song named after it, and a good one at that. The song is entitled, appropriately enough, "NGC 4945". It is a song by Brett Domino on the album "Funk". What would possess a pop artist to write a song about a specific galaxy? I have no idea. But check it out on Youtube - it is a lot of fun. Its techno funk groove is not exactly my musical preference, but it is a very catchy song with lyrics that (only) an astronomer would love:

" Well I'm not one to be exaggeratin', fabricatin'

But this girl, she's so devastatingly captivating

She lights me up like a thousand watt incandescent bulb

Yeah, she's out of this world

She's from NGC 4945

She can't be from this Galaxy

She just like nothin' I've seen

Before on this planet

She's from NGC 4945

Or a similar Galaxy

Maybe Messier 83

And I want her to take me home"

The second interesting thing is that this galaxy is one of the most prominent galaxies of the NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) Galaxy Group. This group also includes Messier 83. So, did the songwriter know this when he referenced Messier 83 in the song lyrics above? Probably so, which makes me think that he is one of the only techno-funk-pop-artist-astronomers in the world.

The third interesting thing is that this galaxy has several names, including the Cigar Galaxy (shared by many) and the Tweezers Galaxy. The unique shape of this galaxy does look like tweezers to me. I used the "tweezers" name for this image because I don't believe that any other galaxy has this name.

Which leads to the fourth interesting thing, which is the galaxy structure. The structure is hard to see because of its almost 80 degree inclination angle. But, the interesting dark cloud lanes appear unusually intense, especially along the bottom of the galaxy. The unsymmetric shape, with much less star density on the right side, is hard to understand and visually is very striking. Blue star clusters are also faintly present. The bright yellowish core appears to be trying to bust out of the central shroud

The fifth interesting thing is the smudge of light in the lower right corner of the image. At first, I thought that this smudge was an artifact of some sort. But upon researching other images of this galaxy, I saw that the smudge is present on all images. Turns out that this "smudge" is a faint galaxy which is superimposed behind a star. The galaxy is named NGC4945A and is a companion galaxy of NGC4945.

Finally, for those still with me after reading this long diatribe, the sixth interesting thing is the bright and colorful star field in the foreground.

So there you go - not a "wall-hanging" image result, but I am still glad that I went on this journey. This object must be a fantastic sight for those of you living in the southern hemisphere!