Pictures of the Needle Galaxy

Not all galaxies appear as beautiful spirals when seen from Earth, as anyone who has observed or photographed the Leo Triplet will be aware.

Some galaxies appear edge-on from our perspective, and one of the most famous edge-on galaxies has to be NGC 4546, also known as the Needle Galaxy.

When seen through a telescope or when photographed, the galaxy appears like a thin streak across the deep sky.

What’s most interesting about the Needle Galaxy is the thick, dark dust lane that bisects the glowing galactic core.

Edge-on galaxies may not appear as beautiful as face-on spiral galaxies, but they do offer astronomers a unique perspective.

The Needle Galaxy is about 40 million lightyears away and is about one third larger than our home galaxy the Milky Way.

Below is a selection of pictures of the Needle Galaxy captured by BBC Sky at Night Magazine readers and astrophotographers from around the world.

For more info on deep-sky observing and imaging, read our astrophotography guides or our tutorial on deep-sky astronomy.

And if you’re already a seasoned deep-sky astrophotographer, fine-tune your processing skills with our guide to deep-sky image processing.

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