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NGC 4244   The Silver Needle Galaxy

NGC 4244 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici that we view edge-on. The galaxy does not exhibit a large central bulge, giving it a streak-like appearance. It does show a dark dust lane approximately dividing the galaxy into upper and lower halves. Visually, the galaxy is around 19.3 arc-min in length but only 2.1 arc-min in thickness.
There are numerous foreground Milky Way stars in the field of the image. However, the two star-like objects at either end of the galaxy are not foreground stars. The object on the upper end of NGC 4244 is HS 1214+3801, a young blue dwarf galaxy. The similar object on the lower end of NGC 4244 is WR 415, an old blue dwarf galaxy. These two small galaxies appear to be associated with the disk of NGC 4244. Some have speculated that they might just be intense star-forming regions within the disk of NGC 4244.

Date(s) Acquired: 3, 5 May 2016
Telescope: Orion 120mm EON Apochromatic Refractor
Camera: QSI Model 583 with TeleVue 2X PowerMate

 

   Exposure Time (min) 
   Number of Exposures
   RGB
   15
   Hα
   -
   Hβ
   -
   OIII
   -
   RGB
   6
   Hα
   0
   Hβ
   0
   OIII
   0

 

Processing:
Master red, green, and blue images created using SuperSIAM.
Color composite image created using Basic Processing Procedure III.
Color composite image contrast-stretched using Adobe Photoshop.




 

 

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