Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  NGC 4244
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NGC 4244 - The Silver Needle Galaxy, Mirosław Stygar
NGC 4244 - The Silver Needle Galaxy
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NGC 4244 - The Silver Needle Galaxy

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NGC 4244 - The Silver Needle Galaxy, Mirosław Stygar
NGC 4244 - The Silver Needle Galaxy
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 4244 - The Silver Needle Galaxy

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

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Description

NGC 4244, also known as Caldwell 26, is an edge-on spiral galaxy discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1787. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici and is part of the M94 Group or Canes Venatici I Group, a group of galaxies relatively close to the Local Group. In the sky, it is situated near the yellow naked-eye star Beta Canum Venaticorum, but also close to the spiral galaxy NGC 4151 and the irregular galaxy NGC 4214.

NGC 4244 - the Silver Needle - should not be confused with NGC 4565 (Caldwell 38), simply called the Needle. The Silver Needle is a spiral galaxy stretching about 65,000 light-years and lying over 13 million light-years from Earth. Interestingly, most spiral galaxies have a shape similar to the already mentioned Needle NGC 4565, with a bulging central core surrounded by a relatively flat disk (both surrounded by a "halo" of old stars).

The spiral arms are not visible, of course, because we see the galaxy from the side, but its orientation and small central bulge facilitate the study of the galaxy's halo - detailed analyses were conducted using instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope, and I highly recommend viewing these beautiful images.

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NGC 4244 - The Silver Needle Galaxy, Mirosław Stygar

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