NGC4631 - The Whale Galaxy and NGC4656 - The Hockey Stick

The Whale & HockeyStick

Found in the constellation Canes Venatici

Discovered by William Herschel in 1787.

NGC 4631 aka The Whale (bottom right) is a huge edge-on spiral galaxy, which is apparently distorted by its small elliptical companion, NGC 4627. Rich field telescopes show it in one field with its large, heavily distorted companion, NGC 4656 aka The HockeyStick (top left). NGC4656 seems to have interacted massively with NGC 4631: there's a bridge of hydrogen gas connecting both galaxies.

Camera: Moravian G4 (16803), Astrodon Gen II LRGB filters
Scope: AP155EDF Triplet Refractor w Focus Boss II motorized focuser
Mount: Paramount MX
Guider: ST402ME + Borg 60mm achromat
Luminance: 24 x 10 min
RGB: 9 x 10 min
Initial processing in PixInsight then finishing touches in Photoshop CC 2021

Click on the image to have your browser resize it for your screen.

Below is the full field of view

Whale & HockeyStick full FOV

Lucknow, Ontario
April 2021

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