It has an equatorial dust lane dotted with numerous red emission nebulae. It has a high surface brightness and is therefore a good target for small telescopes. ngc 4631 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. NGC 4631 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici.
The central region of NGC 4631 is a starburst region where intense star formation is currently taking place. NGC 4631, also known as the Whale Galaxy, is an edge-on spiral galaxy of magnitude 9.3 in the constellation Canes Venatici. Chandra observations of NGC 4631 show a huge halo of hot gas (shown in blue and purple) surrounding this spiral galaxy.
What kind of galaxy is NGC 4631?
Because this nearby galaxy is seen from the edge-on from Earth, professional astronomers are observing it to better understand the gas and stars that are out of the plane of the galaxy. The galaxy’s slightly distorted wedge shape reminds some of a cosmic herring, and others of the popular name “whale galaxy”. NGC 4627, a tiny 13th magnitude satellite galaxy, is visible as a faint oval spot just north of the centre of the main galaxy.
Where is the Whale galaxy located?
I would be interested to know if anyone images the Whale galaxy with a larger instrument such as an SCT or a large Newtonian reflector. The Whale galaxy gravitationally interacts with the elliptical dwarf galaxy NGC 4627, which can be seen just above NGC 4631 in images of the pair. The galaxy is located in the constellation Canes Venatici and is often called the Whale Galaxy because of its resemblance to a marine mammal. It interacts with the elliptical dwarf galaxy NGC 4627, which is similar to the dwarf galaxy NGC 205 (M1 near M31, the Andromeda Galaxy).
NGC 4631 (Whale Galaxy) – barred spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici is classified as a barred spiral galaxy (Bcd) according to the Hubble and de Vaucouleurs morphological classification of galaxies.
