| Date 2013/04/14 Observation place New Mexico |
Technical
| Telescope | Takahashi Epsilon 250 - 10 ″, 850mm FL @ f / 3.4 |
| Mount | Paramount ME |
| Imaging camera | SBIG ST10XME - Non Anti Bloomin Gate (NABG) regulated at -15o Celsius |
| Image type | L (RGB) |
| Exhibition | Luminance (12 x 5 'bin 1 × 1), R and B (4 x 2,5' bin 2 × 2 each) and V (3 x 2,5 'bin 2 × 2) |
| Pretreatment | Maxim DL |
| Treatment | Photoshop and PixInsight |
Object description
| Object type | Spiral galaxy "The whale galaxy" |
| Constellation | Hunting dogs |
| Visual magnitude | 9 |
| Distance | 25 million light years |
| Diameter | 140000 light years |
| Dimension seen from Earth | 15,2 x 2,8 arc minutes |
| NGC 4631, also called the Whale Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy seen from the side. It is at a distance of about 25 million light years from Earth in the constellation Hunting Dogs. It is in gravitational interaction with galaxy NGC4627, which can be seen in the image just above galaxy NGC4631. This gravitational movement gives it an irregular shape, thus offering a resemblance to that of a whale, from which it takes its name. It is a very beautiful galaxy to photograph. Its visual magnitude of 9 makes it accessible in medium-diameter telescopes. |
| Richard Beauregard Sky Astro - CCD My impression "We cannot be alone in this gigantic universe" |