NGC 4565: Needle Galaxy

Presenting a sleek needle-like profile the magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is viewed edge-on from planet Earth . Its core of stars bulges from the centre of a thin disk of spiral arms and dust . The core appears to be cut sharply by dust lanes to dramatic effect in this composite image . NGC 4565's obscuring dust lanes and pronounced core are typical of large majestic spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way . To make this picture , astronomer Bill McLaughlin digitally combined a high quality black and white image with colour information from three separate exposures through red, green, and blue filters. This island universe is about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices .