NGC 4449, the Box Galaxy, (also known as Caldwell 21) is an irregular dwarf starburst galaxy. It is located approximately 12 to 13 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is a member of the M94 group of galaxies. Its exceptionally high rate of star formation is notable. This feature earns it the “starburst” designation.
Unlike many galaxies where star formation is central, NGC 4449 exhibits widespread star formation. It reaches all the way to its edges. This is likely triggered by gravitational interactions or past mergers with smaller companion galaxies. The galaxy is rich in blue star clusters, which are young and massive stars. It also contains reddish regions of ionized hydrogen. In these regions, new stars are actively being born.
NGC 5906 is often referred to as part of the Splinter Galaxy or Knife Edge Galaxy. It is an edge-on spiral galaxy. It is located approximately 46–55 million light-years away in the Draco constellation. It is closely associated with NGC 5907. Many, including early observers, distinguish the western part of this thin, dusty galaxy as NGC 5906. The brighter, eastern side is identified as NGC 5907.
It has an extreme edge-on orientation. Because of this, it appears as a thin sliver of light or “knife edge” in telescopes. A prominent dust lane divides it. It is a spiral galaxy with a small, compact nucleus containing a supermassive black hole. Deep imaging reveals faint, massive stellar tidal streams looping around the galaxy. These are believed to be the remnants of a dwarf galaxy absorbed about 4 billion years ago.
I photographed this from my driveway with a GSO RC8 telescope. I used an ASI071MC Pro camera cooled to 14f. The setup included a Skywatcher EQ6r Pro equatorial mount. APT controls image acquisition and session automation. 102 3 minute subs, or about 5 hours of exposure. Subframes were calibrated, debayered, aligned, integrated, and processed using PixInsight 1.9.3.
NGC 3521 is popularly known as the Bubble Galaxy. It is an intermediate spiral galaxy. It is located approximately 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. The galaxy earns its nickname from the gigantic, very faint bubble-like shells and tidal remnants that surround it.
Astronomers believe these shells are tidal debris. They consist of streams of stars and gas. These materials were torn from smaller satellite galaxies. NGC 3521 absorbed them in the distant past. These outer structures are very faint and typically only appear in deep, long-exposure astrophotography. In smaller backyard telescopes, the galaxy often appears as a simple glowing object. It is rounded in shape. This appearance also contributes to the “bubble” moniker.
I photographed this galaxy from my driveway here in Burke County, NC. I used APT for session management and automation. Over two nights, I gathered 105 3 minute exposures. I used a GSO RC8 telescope at 1625mm fl paired with a ZWO ASI071MC Pro cooled to 14f. These ride a Skywatcher EQ6r Pro Equatorial mount. The subframes are manually calibrated, debayered, aligned, integrated, and processed in PixInsight 1.9.3.
Messier 35 (M35) is the only Messier object in the constellation Gemini. It is also called NGC 2168 or the Shoe Buckle Cluster. M35 is a relatively young open cluster of stars about 150 million years old.
Open clusters are groupings of stars that are loosely gravitationally bound. They tend to form from the same cloud of gas and dust. Their stars share characteristics like age and chemical composition. This can be helpful for studying how stars form and evolve. Over time, tidal forces within a host galaxy may be very strong. They may overwhelm an open clusters’ gravitational pull. As a result, its stars may disperse into the galaxy.
M35 is large. On very dark nights, it can be seen as a fuzzy object with the unaided eye. In binoculars, it appears as a haze with some resolvable stars. Through a telescope, it reveals a grouping of bright stars.
Located near Castor’s right foot in Gemini, it is best seen in the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere. A smaller and more compact neighboring open cluster, NGC 2158, may also be visible. It is within nearly the same field of view. It is located at the bottom center of my photograph.
NGC 247 (also known as Caldwell 62) is an intermediate spiral galaxy located approximately 11.1 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus. It is a prominent member of the Sculptor Group, one of the closest galaxy clusters to our own Local Group. At a dec of -20, it’s as far south as I can image. I do this from my driveway here in the forest of western North Carolina.
The “Needle’s Eye” / “Claw” Galaxy: It has an unusual nickname. It’s called the “Needle’s Eye” because of an unusually large void or “hole” on one side of its spiral disk. This region contains older, redder stars. It lacks younger, bluer stars. This indicates that star formation there stopped about a billion years ago. Spanning about 70,000 light-years in diameter, it is smaller than the Milky Way and is viewed nearly edge-on from Earth.
Burbidge’s Chain: In deep images, a striking string of four distant background galaxies is visible. They are roughly 300 million light-years away. This string is located just to the north-east of NGC 247. These were a bonus I found in my image as I was processing it. I never saw them in the faint subframes. The difference between 11 million and 300 million light-years.
Astronomers speculate the galaxy’s distinctive void may have been caused by gravitational interaction with a “dark subhalo.” Another possibility is that another galaxy passed through its disk. While the void is quiet, the rest of the disk features bright pink H II regions. These are knots of glowing hydrogen gas where new stars are actively forming.
Messier 96 is also known as M96 or NGC 3368. It is an intermediate spiral galaxy. It is located approximately 31 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. It is the brightest member of the M96 Group (or Leo I Group). This group includes other prominent galaxies, such as M95 and M105.
M96 has an asymmetrical structure with unevenly distributed dust and gas and ill-defined spiral arms, likely due to gravitational interactions. Its core is not perfectly centered. It has a diameter of about 100,000 light-years. It contains an estimated 100 billion stars. This makes it comparable in size and mass to the Milky Way.
Messier 95 (M95 or NGC 3351) is a barred spiral galaxy. It is located approximately 33 million light-years away. You can find it in the constellation Leo. It is a notable member of the Leo I galaxy group. The group also includes other Messier objects like M96 and M105.
M95 has a prominent linear bar structure that crosses its core. It also has tightly wound spiral arms that form a nearly circular inner ring. This inner ring is an active region with a high rate of star formation. It sparkles with the light of countless young, blue stars.
This galaxy season I wanted to touch on a few galaxy clusters. I’ve photographed the Leo Triplet before but never the Leo Quartet. The NGC 3190 group is also known as Hickson 44 or Arp 316. It is a compact group of galaxies located in the constellation Leo. The galaxies are about 100 million light-years from earth.
NGC 3190: A spiral galaxy with a prominent dust lane, viewed nearly edge-on. NGC 3193: An elliptical galaxy, appearing as a relatively featureless glow. NGC 3187: A barred spiral galaxy with distorted, S-shaped arms, giving it a peculiar appearance. NGC 3185: A barred spiral galaxy with a ring-like outer structure.
Image capture using APT 4.6, Image processing with PixInsight.
I used NGC 4425 as the centering coordinates for this image. Multiple galaxies are within the field of view. These include components of Markarian’s Chain, the Great Galactic Face, The “Eyes,” and another 10 galaxies. The Virgo constellation is chalk full of galaxies. Be sure to look at my annotated version in Astrobin. It identifies all the galaxies in the image. It also provides the acquisition details for the photo.
NGC 4425 is a Barred Spiral Galaxy located in the constellation of Virgo in the equatorial region. NGC 4425’s distance from Earth is 54.7 million light years. NGC 4425 is cataloged in the New General Catalogue (NGC). This catalogue is a list of deep space objects. John Louis Emil Dreyer compiled it in 1888. His work was an update to John Herschel’s earlier work. NGC 4425 is not a Messier Object and doesn’t have a Messier Number. The galaxy is separate and distinct, not in Milky Way galaxy or The Solar System.
When we observe the NGC 4425, we are not looking at it as it currently appears. Instead, we see it as it used to appear 54.7 million years ago, given how long light takes to reach us from there.
NGC 4425 is situated close to the celestial equator. Thus, it is at least partly visible from both hemispheres at certain times of the year.
Each of the 20+ galaxies in this image have a history, a unique story.
The Black Eye Galaxy is also called Sleeping Beauty Galaxy or Evil Eye Galaxy. It is designated Messier 64, M 64, or NGC 4826. It is a relatively isolated spiral galaxy 17 million light-years away in the mildly northern constellation of Coma Berenice’s.
Messier 64 (M64) has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy’s bright nucleus. This feature gives rise to its nicknames, the “Black Eye” or “Evil Eye” galaxy.
I photographed this galaxy for over 12 hours from my driveway in March 2025.
