NGC 4631, The Whale Galaxy (Ruben Barbosa)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: NGC 4627 · NGC 4631

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NGC 4631, The Whale Galaxy

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NGC 4631, The Whale Galaxy

* Image acquisition by Jim Misti / Steven Mazlin.

* Processing: Ruben Barbosa.

* Distance: 25 Mly.

NGC 4631 (also known as the Whale Galaxy or Caldwell 32) is a barred spiral galaxy located 25 million years away, towards the constellation of anes Venatici.

Its slightly distorted wedge shape gives it the appearance of a whale, which is reinforced by the apparent existence of a pectoral fin, hence its nickname.

The central zone, yellowed with dark clouds of dust, is characterized for being a site of intensive formation of new stars; the more massive end up depleting their fuel quickly and evolving into supernovae. Due to the high number of events of this type occurring in the central zone of the galaxy, one can now observe a powerful galactic wind composed of energetic electromagnetic emissions whose gas gave rise to a giant corona of incandescent gas, emitting X-rays in a diameter of 10,000 years-light. As an alternative to supernovae, scientists suggest that the motive of the wind may be related to the passage of a huge cloud of hydrogen through the disk.

The arms extend to a length similar to our galaxy, displaying fantastic colors in shades of blue and pink, the characteristic colors of stellar maternities (HII regions).

NGC 4631 has a satellite galaxy, NGC 4627, a dwarven elliptical located at the top, where streams of material (stars, gas and dust) were detected, bridging the two structures.

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2. Galaxies

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The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

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Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	2174337
PixInsight job	719P6YEQAGZMF8V1RX9LRGRM0CJOEF4L
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	12h42m03s.664
RA (top/left)	12h42m47s.810
RA (top/right)	12h41m19s.507
RA (bottom/right)	12h41m20s.258
RA (bottom/left)	12h42m47s.642

Dec (center)	+32°32′40″.45
Dec (top/left)	+32°38′41″.29
Dec (top/right)	+32°38′28″.70
Dec (bottom/right)	+32°26′37″.96
Dec (bottom/left)	+32°26′50″.16

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NGC 4631, The Whale Galaxy

NGC 4631, The Whale Galaxy

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NGC 4631, The Whale Galaxy

NGC 4631, The Whale Galaxy

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