Needle Galaxy (NGC 4565)
A famous edge-on spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices, showcasing a prominent central bulge bisected by a dark dust lane. Requires a telescope to appreciate its slender form.
Galaxy in Coma Berenices. Magnitude 9.6.
Can you see it from Guyana?
From Georgetown (6.8° N) it climbs to 71° above the northern horizon at its highest; from Lethem (3.4° N), to 68° above the northern horizon. It is highest at midnight on the night of 29 Mar, in the middle of its season. The page works out tonight's rise, highest point and set for both towns in Guyana time (UTC-4), and where the Moon is.
What you'll see
- Your eyes: Not visible to the eye.
- 10x50 binoculars: Just detectable in binoculars from a dark site, as a faint smudge.
- A small telescope (80 to 100 mm): Faint and diffuse: use low power from a dark site.
- A camera: Spans about 40% of an APS-C frame at 2,000 mm (field 0.7° × 0.4°); needs a tracking mount.
How big, how bright, how far
- Size on the sky: 17′ × 2.9′, 55% of the Moon's width (the Moon is about 31′ wide).
- Brightness: magnitude 9.6. Fainter than the faintest stars in Georgetown (4.3) and Lethem (6.0): binoculars or a telescope.
- Distance: 43 million light-years. The light reaching your eye left it about 43 million years ago.
Apparent size from OpenNGC (Mattia Verga), CC-BY-SA-4.0.
What it is made of
- Type
- Edge-on Spiral Galaxy
- Distance
- Approx. 42.7 million Lightyears
- True size
- Approx. 100,000 Lightyears diameter
- Stellar Disk: Viewed edge-on, appears thin
- Central Bulge: Older stellar population, protrudes from disk
- Dark Dust Lane: Bisects the galaxy along its equator
More deep-sky objects: Black Eye Galaxy (M64) · Galaxy M106 · Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) · Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) · Sombrero Galaxy (M104) · Bode's Galaxy (M81)