APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2024 Jun 06)

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APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2024 Jun 06)

Post by APOD Robot » Thu Jun 06, 2024 4:07 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 boxy, bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. 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 (2024 Jun 06)

Post by AVAO » Thu Jun 06, 2024 4:53 am

APOD Robot wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 4:07 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 boxy, bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. 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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...a needle with a hole in the middle - even if you only see it in IR ,-)

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2
jac berne (flickr) artistic composit ao SDSS10/SST

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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2024 Jun 06)

Post by Ann » Thu Jun 06, 2024 5:59 am

NGC 4565 is one of the truly classic galaxies for owners of a telescope, since it presents such a gorgeous thin bright pencil line in the sky.

NGC 4565 manuelj g.png
NGC 4565 shines in this image by manuelj.g.

The orientation of NGC 4565, where north is up and east to the left, is the orientation seen in manuelj.g's image. And as a Color Commentator, I must point out that the color balance in the APOD is on the blue side.

Wikipedia wrote:

NGC 4565 is a giant spiral galaxy more luminous than the Andromeda Galaxy.
Indeed, it's huge. And flat. NGC 4565 is, or appears to be, just lots and lots and lots of galaxy with not much happening inside. No giant star clusters. No pink emission nebulas. No obvious halo surrounding the bulge. No interesting dust bunnies. Hardly any asymmetry. No visible warp. (Okay, so there's a small warp there, impressed :roll: ...)

Compare NGC 4565 with NGC 4631! Now we are talking a galaxy where things are happening!


According to Wikipedia, NGC 4565 may be in the aftermath of a period of more intense star formation. Well, if so, things have sure quieted down since then.

NGC 4565 is "an almost perfect edge-on galaxy". What would it look like if it was face on?

I searched and searched. It had to be a large galaxy, a galaxy with little star formation and a high degree of symmetry. After much searching, I thought that NGC 3147 might be a good analogy for a face-on NGC 4565:


Impressive, isn't it? And if you think that the galaxy looks strangely blue (and I definitely thought so), it's because this is not an RGB image. Instead, two infrared filters have been used for the image, plus one green filter.

Wikipedia wrote about NGC 3147:

NGC 3147 is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Draco. It is located at a distance of circa 130 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 3147 is about 140,000 light years across.

If the diameter of NGC 3147 is 140,000 light-years, then it is bigger than the Milky Way and almost as big as Andromeda, whose isophotal diameter is 152,000 light-years. NGC 4565 is bigger than Andromeda. But NGC 4565 and NGC 3147 are almost the same color, B-V = 0.840 for NGC 4565 and B-V = 0.820 for NGC 3147.


So if you want to know what NGC 4565 looks like face on, you may want to look at NGC 3147! :D

Ann
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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2024 Jun 06)

Post by Ann » Thu Jun 06, 2024 7:26 am

AVAO wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 4:53 am
APOD Robot wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 4:07 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 boxy, bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. 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.

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>

...a needle with a hole in the middle - even if you only see it in IR ,-)

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2
jac berne (flickr) artistic composit ao SDSS10/SST

Wow, Jac! That's amazing! :D

NGC 4565 isn't doing much, but as a galaxy, it could just be a needle pulling thread! :D

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Ann
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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2024 Jun 06)

Post by Christian G. » Thu Jun 06, 2024 12:49 pm

Graceful spiral arms are always a pretty sight but every once in a while a galaxy seen edge-on can be stunning! As for the "Needle" nickname, sure, but that's an impressive needle! 175 000 light-years long and 5000 light-years thick! With a trillion stars. (depending on sources)
NGC4565 .jpg
(Hubble image)
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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2024 Jun 06)

Post by johnnydeep » Thu Jun 06, 2024 5:42 pm

APOD Robot wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 4:07 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 boxy, bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. 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.
The "obscuring dust lanes" page got hung up and never displayed the larger image when I clicked on the pic on the linked page, but this page has the same image: https://esahubble.org/images/potw1228a/

And the "screen size" one is still impressively detailed. I'll ask Ann about all those nice blue dots: are they individual big blue newish stars or clusters?


Oh, and yes, per the remarkable post from AVAO above, the "needle" galaxy really does seem to have the "eye" - and a large one at that - in the exact center! BTW, does that red ring around the eye in IR signify dust?
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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2024 Jun 06)

Post by Ann » Thu Jun 06, 2024 7:15 pm

johnnydeep wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 5:42 pm
APOD Robot wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 4:07 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 boxy, bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. 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.
The "obscuring dust lanes" page got hung up and never displayed the larger image when I clicked on the pic on the linked page, but this page has the same image: https://esahubble.org/images/potw1228a/

And the "screen size" one is still impressively detailed. I'll ask Ann about all those nice blue dots: are they individual big blue newish stars or clusters?


Oh, and yes, per the remarkable post from AVAO above, the "needle" galaxy really does seem to have the "eye" - and a large one at that - in the exact center! BTW, does that red ring around the eye in IR signify dust?

A few clusters are obvious, as well as one association. Associations are more spread out than clusters.

There are other clusters and associations too. But the number of clusters and associations in NGC 4565 is relatively small.

Clusters and an association in NGC 4565 Hubble.png
Sco Cen association Akira Fuji David Malin.png
The Sco-Cen association. Credit: Akira Fuji

And yes, red means dust in Spitzer Space Telescope infrared images.

Ann
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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2024 Jun 06)

Post by AVAO » Thu Jun 06, 2024 8:19 pm

Ann wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 7:26 am
AVAO wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 4:53 am
APOD Robot wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 4:07 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 boxy, bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. 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.

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>

...a needle with a hole in the middle - even if you only see it in IR ,-)

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2
jac berne (flickr) artistic composit ao SDSS10/SST

Wow, Jac! That's amazing! :D

NGC 4565 isn't doing much, but as a galaxy, it could just be a needle pulling thread! :D

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Ann

I like our neighboring country Austria and also the story with the twine.
Especially this spacey X-shape in the middle of the galaxie ,-)
Elon would also like this if he flies past there...

Source:www.baumwoll-seite.de


Hubble view of galaxy NGC 4710 with x-shaped bulge: Credit: NASA/ESA (HST)


Hubble’s celestial peanut (NGC 1175): https://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/ima ... illars.png
Credit: NASA/ESA (HST)


X marks the spot at the center of the Milky Way galaxy WISE allsky map of the sky showing the Milky Way Galaxy. The central circle indicates the centre of the Galaxy and the inset shows an enhanced view of the x-shaped structure. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech; D. Lang/Dunlap Institute

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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2024 Jun 06)

Post by johnnydeep » Thu Jun 06, 2024 8:21 pm

Ann wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 7:15 pm
johnnydeep wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 5:42 pm
APOD Robot wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 4:07 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 boxy, bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. 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.
The "obscuring dust lanes" page got hung up and never displayed the larger image when I clicked on the pic on the linked page, but this page has the same image: https://esahubble.org/images/potw1228a/

And the "screen size" one is still impressively detailed. I'll ask Ann about all those nice blue dots: are they individual big blue newish stars or clusters?


Oh, and yes, per the remarkable post from AVAO above, the "needle" galaxy really does seem to have the "eye" - and a large one at that - in the exact center! BTW, does that red ring around the eye in IR signify dust?

A few clusters are obvious, as well as one association. Associations are more spread out than clusters.

There are other clusters and associations too. But the number of clusters and associations in NGC 4565 is relatively small.

Clusters and an association in NGC 4565 Hubble.png
Sco Cen association Akira Fuji David Malin.png
The Sco-Cen association. Credit: Akira Fuji

And yes, red means dust in Spitzer Space Telescope infrared images.

Ann
Thanks. But in all those clusters and associations, the point like blue dots are still individual blue stars, yes?
Last edited by johnnydeep on Fri Jun 07, 2024 12:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2024 Jun 06)

Post by Ann » Fri Jun 07, 2024 5:21 am

johnnydeep wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 8:21 pm
Ann wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 7:15 pm
johnnydeep wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 5:42 pm

The "obscuring dust lanes" page got hung up and never displayed the larger image when I clicked on the pic on the linked page, but this page has the same image: https://esahubble.org/images/potw1228a/

And the "screen size" one is still impressively detailed. I'll ask Ann about all those nice blue dots: are they individual big blue newish stars or clusters?


Oh, and yes, per the remarkable post from AVAO above, the "needle" galaxy really does seem to have the "eye" - and a large one at that - in the exact center! BTW, does that red ring around the eye in IR signify dust?

A few clusters are obvious, as well as one association. Associations are more spread out than clusters.

There are other clusters and associations too. But the number of clusters and associations in NGC 4565 is relatively small.

Clusters and an association in NGC 4565 Hubble.png
Sco Cen association Akira Fuji David Malin.png
The Sco-Cen association. Credit: Akira Fuji

And yes, red means dust in Spitzer Space Telescope infrared images.

Ann
Thanks. But in all those clusters and associations, the blue point like blue dots are still individual blue stars, yes?

We certainly expect blue point sources in high-resolution pictures of galaxies to be stars.

You've got to remember that "individual" blue (and therefore massive) stars are usually multiple. As a rule of thumb, stars are more likely to be binaries or multiple stars the more massive they are. That's not to say that lower-mass stars can't be binaries or multiple star systems as well. They certainly can.

Massive (late O-type) star Sigma Orionis is at least quintuple:


But you can't see that Sigma Orionis is multiple in "normal" pictures of the Orion region:


And if you saw a wide field picture of tight massive cluster NGC 5471 near M101, you would be forgiven for thinking that this is just another star:

NGC 5471 Pete underscore xl.png
NGC 5471 which is orbiting M101. Credit: Pete_xl.

At the distance of NGC 4565, it may be difficult to see if a blue dot is an individual (though perhaps multiple) star or a small tight cluster.

Ann
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Re: APOD: NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge (2024 Jun 06)

Post by johnnydeep » Fri Jun 07, 2024 12:20 pm

Thanks, Ann.
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