Hockey Stick Galaxy NGC 4656
This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. NGC 4656, also known informally as the "hockey stick galaxy," is a distorted edge-on spiral galaxy. Its distinctive shape is due to a recent gravitational interaction with the galaxy NGC 4631. It is not yet certain, but these two galaxies may be in the early stages of merging. The faint object in the upper-left corner may not be part of the galaxy, but instead be a dwarf galaxy in the process of merging with NGC 4656. The image was generated with observations in the B (blue), V (green), I (orange) and Hydrogen-Alpha (red) filters. In this image, North is up, East is to the left.
Credit:T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
About the Image
| Id: | noao-ngc4656 |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | June 30, 2020, 9:33 p.m. |
| Size: | 3072 x 4096 px |
About the Object
| Name: | Hockey Stick Galaxy, NGC 4656 |
| Constellation: | Canes Venatici |
| Category: | Galaxies |
Image Formats
Wallpapers
Coordinates
| Position (RA): | 12 43 45.95 |
| Position (Dec): | 32° 3' 53.35" |
| Field of view: | 13.25 x 17.77 arcminutes |
| Orientation: | North is 179.9° right of vertical |
View in WorldWide Telescope:
Colors & filters
| Band | Wave-length | Tele-scope |
|---|---|---|
| Optical B | 436 nm | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |
| Optical V | 537 nm | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |
| Optical I | 805 nm | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |
| Optical Ha | 656 nm | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |