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

Large JPEGLarge JPEG
4.7 MB
Screensize JPEGScreensize JPEG
322.6 KB

Zoomable


Wallpapers

1024x7681024x768
249.9 KB
1280x10241280x1024
410.2 KB
1600x12001600x1200
624.8 KB
1920x12001920x1200
792.6 KB
2048x15362048x1536
4.9 MB

Coordinates

ObjectValue
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


Colors & filters

BandWave-lengthTele-scope
Optical
B
436 nmNicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope
Mosaic I
Optical
V
537 nmNicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope
Mosaic I
Optical
I
805 nmNicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope
Mosaic I
Optical
Ha
656 nmNicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope
Mosaic I