APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2019 Feb 22)

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APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2019 Feb 22)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri Feb 22, 2019 5:06 am

Image NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge

Explanation: Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is viewed edge-on from planet Earth. Also known as the Needle Galaxy for its narrow profile, bright NGC 4565 is a stop on many telescopic tours of the northern sky, in the faint but well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. This sharp, colorful image reveals the galaxy's bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. An assortment of other background galaxies is included in the pretty field of view, with neighboring galaxy NGC 4562 at the upper right. NGC 4565 itself lies about 40 million light-years distant and spans some 100,000 light-years. Easily spotted with small telescopes, sky enthusiasts consider NGC 4565 to be a prominent celestial masterpiece Messier missed.

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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2019 Feb 22)

Post by Boomer12k » Fri Feb 22, 2019 8:40 am

Great shot...nice detail...

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sillyworm 2

Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2019 Feb 22)

Post by sillyworm 2 » Fri Feb 22, 2019 1:42 pm

Beautiful! All these magnificent structures sprinkled throughout the Universe teasing us..prodding our curiousity... some so far we may never get a glimpse.Galaxies are my favorite space dwellers.

heehaw

Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2019 Feb 22)

Post by heehaw » Fri Feb 22, 2019 3:31 pm

Pity all the poor astronomers on all those planets in that galaxy: they despair of ever getting a good image of OUR galaxy!

RW5

Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2019 Feb 22)

Post by RW5 » Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:14 pm

Is the author aware that the picture also seems to contain the faint streak of a passing object, (satellite, asteroid, meteor, other). With an expanded full size view the streak can be seen cutting diagonally through the upper left corner, (just to the right of the two smaller corner galaxies).

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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2019 Feb 22)

Post by orin stepanek » Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:29 pm

Kinda looks like a flying saucer! :wink: Beautiful picture though! 8-)
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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2019 Feb 22)

Post by MarkBour » Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:47 pm

RW5 wrote: Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:14 pm Is the author aware that the picture also seems to contain the faint streak of a passing object, (satellite, asteroid, meteor, other). With an expanded full size view the streak can be seen cutting diagonally through the upper left corner, (just to the right of the two smaller corner galaxies).
Good eye, RW5! That is a pretty faint streak, I would not have noticed it. I wonder if the photographer knows what caused it.
(Or, maybe it is a strand of Berenice's Hair?)
Last edited by MarkBour on Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2019 Feb 22)

Post by neufer » Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:48 pm

heehaw wrote: Fri Feb 22, 2019 3:31 pm
Pity all the poor astronomers on all those planets in that galaxy:
they despair of ever getting a good image of OUR galaxy!
NGC 4565 lies close to the North Galactic Pole so some NGC 4565 astronomers ought to have a chance of seeing the central bar of the Milky Way face on (and perhaps even observe our early ancestors 43 million years ago when the Earth was ~60º back in its galactic rotation).

In any event, they have a much better (~5X better) view of the Virgo Cluster.
Last edited by neufer on Fri Feb 22, 2019 10:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2019 Feb 22)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Fri Feb 22, 2019 5:50 pm

This galaxy is such a famous one that I wondered if I had ever observed it myself, so I searched my electronic notes. Oddly, on a list of my favorite observing objects, in the appendix of objects queued for consideration I noted that I had not seen it more than once. Yet, there is no log of this hypothetical observation anywhere. In a log dated March 12, 2002, I noted that that night’s observation of M85 was my first Virgo Cluster galaxy, but my favorite’s list is dated November 28, 2001. (Although NGC 4565 does not appear to be a cluster member, I would not have known that back then.)

The possibility remains that I saw it through a friend’s telescope during the summer of 2000. I have paper notes from that period that I have not logged electronically, and having someone else show me the object would explain why I did not consider it a first Virgo observation. But those notes are in storage, stacked in a pile with a bunch of other papers.

NGC 4565 is not the only victim of my disorganization. Year after year I tell myself I’m going to see NGC 5128 (the Centaurus A host), and every summer arrives with me saying, “Dang! I forgot again!”

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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2019 Feb 22)

Post by Ann » Fri Feb 22, 2019 7:22 pm

NGC 4565 is probably a really large galaxy. The APOD caption said that it spans some 100,000 light-years, but it might be larger.
Wikipedia wrote:

NGC 4565 is a giant spiral galaxy more luminous than the Andromeda Galaxy.
More luminous than the Andromeda Galaxy isn't bad!

I was going to try to write a lot of dandy stuff about NGC 4565, but then I saw that I had written a lot of dandy stuff about it already, which was last time NGC 4565 was the Astronomy Picture of the Day, back in May 24, 2017. So I refer you to my post back from then, and if I may say so myself, I can recommend it! :mrgreen:

viewtopic.php?p=271160#p271160

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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2019 Feb 22)

Post by NHcycler » Sat Feb 23, 2019 8:26 pm

MarkBour wrote: Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:47 pm
RW5 wrote: Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:14 pm Is the author aware that the picture also seems to contain the faint streak of a passing object, (satellite, asteroid, meteor, other). With an expanded full size view the streak can be seen cutting diagonally through the upper left corner, (just to the right of the two smaller corner galaxies).
Good eye, RW5! That is a pretty faint streak, I would not have noticed it. I wonder if the photographer knows what caused it.
(Or, maybe it is a strand of Berenice's Hair?)
My guess is that it's the far end of a diffraction spike from a foreground star off to the left of the image.

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