The Whale and Hockey Stick Galaxies

The Whale Galaxy NGC 4631 and the Hockey Stick Galaxy NGC 4656 captured together from the skies of the United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪.

NGC 4631 is an edge-on spiral galaxy located about 18 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. Its elongated appearance resembles a whale drifting through space, giving rise to its popular nickname, the “Whale Galaxy.” The galaxy contains active star-forming regions, visible blue stellar clusters, and extended dust structures across its disk. Its slightly distorted shape is likely influenced by gravitational interaction with its nearby dwarf companion galaxy NGC 4627.

To the opposite side of the frame appears NGC 4656, known as the “Hockey Stick Galaxy.” Its bent and irregular structure is believed to result from tidal interactions with neighboring galaxies, particularly NGC 4657 visible near its lower edge. The deformation gives the galaxy its distinctive hockey-stick appearance.

The field also contains numerous faint background galaxies, including several PGC Catalogue galaxies scattered throughout the image, emphasizing the immense depth of this cosmic scene.

Sky-Watcher Quattro 200P
ZWO ASI533MC Pro
iOptron HAE43 Mount

103 images × 300-second exposures
Total integration: 8 hours 35 minutes
Processed using
Pixinsight and Photoshop