Found in the constellation Canes Venatici

Discovered by William Herschel in 1787.
NGC 4631 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; this galaxy seems to have interacted massively with NGC 4631: there's a bridge of hydrogen gas connecting both galaxies.

ST-10XME and CFW8a, Astrodon 6nm H-Alpha filter
AP155EDF Triplet Refractor w Robofocus on an AP900GTO mount
Luminance: 18 x 5 min RGB: 8 x 5 min

Flesherton, Ontario
May 20 2009