NGC 4565 in the constellation of Coma Berenices is a relatively bright (magnitude 9.6), large galaxy, noteworthy for its spectacular appearance caused by the angle of the galactic plane being almost precisely edge-on as seen from the earth. NGC 4565 was discovered by William Herschel in 1785 and is estimated to be 31 million light years distant. This image is oriented with north at left of image - the dim blur at the far right of frame is galaxy NGC 4562.

This image was taken on the 17th April 2010 with a Canon 40D DSLR. Only 6 separate images were used from an image run of 35, each 4min.long @ ISO 400. The other images were unusable because the clouds rolled in.

I was surprised the image came onto the monitor at all because of the Vulcanic ash in the upper atmosphere kindly sent from Iceland.

Latest image for comparison of NGC 4565...This image was taken on 21st. April 2010....30 x 4mins @ ISO 400....The same processing was done to both images....More light frames were added to this image and the dust lanes can clearly be seen.