Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Coma Berenices (Com)  ·  Contains:  IC 3571  ·  NGC 4562  ·  NGC 4565
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NGC 4565 Needle Galaxy, Ken Kattner
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NGC 4565 Needle Galaxy, Ken Kattner
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Description

The Needle Galaxy (NGC 4565) is similar to what our own Milky Way Galaxy would look like edge on. The Needle Galaxy is approximately 30 to 50 million light years away. Care was taken in processing this image to reveal the dust lanes along the center-line of the galaxy. Also notice the galaxy NGC 4562 in the upper left of the image, approximately 41 million light years away. In addition many background galaxies are visible around the Needle Galaxy.

You may also notice the ends of the galaxy are bluish where the star forming regions are. In addition, the ends of the galaxy tilt one direction at the top and the opposite direction at the bottom. The apparent twist at the ends of the disk result from a buckling instability in the disk. When the stars and normal matter are misaligned with the dark matter halo in which the normal matter is embedded, the dark matter exerts tidal forces (a torque) on the disk and the disk wobbles in response.

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NGC 4565 Needle Galaxy, Ken Kattner