D. Heilman Astrophotography

NGC4565 - Needle Galaxy

This edge-on spiral is a beauty, approximately 40 Mly distant in Coma Berenices. The central bulge is bisected by prominent dust lanes that yield to blue tones of new star formation at the outer edges of the disk (likely a result of interaction between one of two satellite galaxies). Data from Spitzer Space Telescope indicates the Needle likely has a central bar as well as a pseudo bulge and inner ring.