The Whale (NGC 4631) and the Hockey Stick (NGC 4656) (Cosgrove's Cosmos (Patrick Cosgrove))

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: NGC 4627 · NGC 4631 · NGC 4656 · NGC 4657 · Whale Galaxy

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The Whale (NGC 4631) and the Hockey Stick (NGC 4656)

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The Whale (NGC 4631) and the Hockey Stick (NGC 4656)

Wow - we have been having an extended stretch of great weather and I have been taking advantage of it!

Last night I shot an interesting couple of galaxies: NGC 4631(The Whale) and NGC 4656 ((The Hockey Stick). Both galaxies being the same frame create an interesting composition. These galaxies are found in the constellation Canes Venatici.

NGC 4631 is the larger and brighter of the two. Located about 30 Million Light years from Earth, this galaxy has a wedge shaped form that resembles a hearing or a whale, this its name. NGC 4631 has a nearby dwarf elliptical galaxy, NGC 4627, as a companion. This is rare example of a double galaxy and as such, is listed in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.

NGC 4656 , the Hockey Stick - also known as the Crowbar Galaxy, is a highly warped barred spiral galaxy. It's distinctive shape is due to a *recent* gravitational interaction with NGC 4631. The "hook" of the galaxy is also listed as it's own object, NGC 4657. Beyond the hook is a fuzzy patch which maybe a dwarf elliptical galaxy that is merging with NGC 4656.

This image resulted from 50 x 180 captures. Captured with a William Optics 132 mm FLT APO scope on an IOptron CEM60 mount. Camera was a ZWO ASI294MC-Pro. Capture was done using Sequence Generator Pro and PHD2 Guiding. Processing was with DeepSky Stacker, Pixinsight, and Photoshop.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	3606157
PixInsight job	RGPAQ1P0NUAY0QIHNMP2O6MLPAQ5Y7JB
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	12h42m53s.96
RA (top/left)	12h40m09s.96
RA (top/right)	12h43m17s.29
RA (bottom/right)	12h45m37s.36
RA (bottom/left)	12h42m30s.49

Dec (center)	+32°20′22″.8
Dec (top/left)	+32°29′20″.8
Dec (top/right)	+31°44′57″.4
Dec (bottom/right)	+32°11′10″.8
Dec (bottom/left)	+32°55′45″.4

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The Whale (NGC 4631) and the Hockey Stick (NGC 4656)

The Whale (NGC 4631) and the Hockey Stick (NGC 4656)

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The Whale (NGC 4631) and the Hockey Stick (NGC 4656)

The Whale (NGC 4631) and the Hockey Stick (NGC 4656)

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