Explanation: NGC 4631 is a big beautiful spiral galaxy. Seen edge-on, it lies only 25 million light-years away in the well-trained northern constellation Canes Venatici. The galaxy's slightly distorted wedge shape suggests to some a cosmic herring and to others its popular moniker, The Whale Galaxy. Either way, it is similar in size to our own Milky Way. In this sharp color image, the galaxy's yellowish core, dark dust clouds, bright blue star clusters, and red star forming regions are easy to spot. A companion galaxy, the small elliptical NGC 4627 is just above the Whale Galaxy. Faint star streams seen in deep images are the remnants of small companion galaxies disrupted by repeated encounters with the Whale in the distant past. The Whale Galaxy is also known to have spouted a halo of hot gas glowing in X-rays.

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: spiral galaxy - edge-on - galaktika, spiral'naya Publikacii so slovami: spiral galaxy - edge-on - galaktika, spiral'naya
Sm. takzhe: NGC 1546 ot teleskopa im.Habbla Mess'e 66 krupnym planom NGC 4565: galaktika, vidimaya s rebra M100: galaktika s regulyarnym spiral'nym uzorom Licom k NGC 1232 Raskruchivaya M51 Triplet L'va Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>