Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  NGC 4627  ·  NGC 4631  ·  Whale Galaxy
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NGC4631 The Whale Galaxy, John Kulin
NGC4631 The Whale Galaxy
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NGC4631 The Whale Galaxy

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC4631 The Whale Galaxy, John Kulin
NGC4631 The Whale Galaxy
Powered byPixInsight

NGC4631 The Whale Galaxy

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Description

Over the last few weeks we have had some clear nights but they were accompanied by up to 28mph gusts of wind.

I originally captured a couple of hours red, but wasn't happy with the influence of the moon, so I waited until this latest period, we still had some winds, but the mount handled it reasonably well.

So it has taken me a few hours processing and hasn't turned out too bad, I usually find galaxies are harder for me to get right than narrowband, but I have enjoyed the processing.

Here's the bumf as usual: -

NGC 4631 (also known as the Whale Galaxy or Caldwell 32) is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. This galaxy's slightly distorted wedge shape gives it the appearance of a herring or a whale, hence its nickname. Because this nearby galaxy is seen edge-on from Earth, professional astronomers observe this galaxy to better understand the gas and stars located outside the plane of the galaxy.

NGC 4631 contains a central starburst, which is a region of intense star formation. The strong star formation is evident in the emission from ionized hydrogen and interstellar dust heated by the stars formed in the starburst. The most massive stars that form in star formation regions only burn hydrogen gas through fusion for a short period of time, after which they explode as supernovae. So many supernovae have exploded in the center of NGC 4631 that they are blowing gas out of the plane of the galaxy. This superwind can be seen in X-rays and in spectral line emission. The gas from this superwind has produced a giant, diffuse corona of hot, X-ray emitting gas around the whole galaxy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_4631

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NGC4631 The Whale Galaxy, John Kulin