Found in the constellation Canes Venatici
Discovered by William Herschel in 1787.
NGC 4631 aka The Whale (bottom left) 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 right). NGC4656 seems to have interacted massively with NGC 4631: there's a bridge of hydrogen gas connecting both galaxies.
Camera: Apogee U16M (16803), Astrodon Gen II LRGB filtersClick on the image to have your browser resize it for your screen.
Lucknow, OntarioMay 2023