NGC4565 - The Needle Galaxy

18:55 27/3/2009 UTC

The Needle, which is also known as The Flying Saucer Galaxy, is a very attractive spiral galaxy seen edge on from Earth. It is located in Coma Berenices. The equatorial dust lane is clearly visible crossing the central bulge. This fine spring sky object resembles our Milky Way. It spans about 100 000 light years across and it is close to us - in cosmic scale. Distance is 30-50 million light years depending on the source. Few tens of million light years here or there, nice object anyway. Must be a nice view visually also in a dark observing location.

NGC/IC Object List:
NGC4565 galaxy RA:12h36m20.5 Dec:+25°59m'16" BMag:10.3, UGC 7772

Camera: Atik Instruments 4000LE | Telescope: Skywatcher ED80 Pro 80mm f7.5 refractor, William Optics 0.8x focal reducer | Mount: Vixen GP-D2, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: Baader IR/UV block | Guiding: The Imaging Source DMK 21AU04.AS CCD camera, Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, Stark-Labs PHD Guiding | Exposure: L: 43x180s(2h9m) CCD @ -20°C f6 | Software: CCDWare CCDStack, Adobe Photoshop CS4, Artemis Capture, GradientXTerminator Plugin | Location: 60°31'N 26°52'E (Koivula/Kotka,FI) | Image Field: 1.645 x 1.309 degrees | Image Center: Ra 12h37m14s Dec +25°57'58" | Target altitude in the beginning of the exposure 40°