NGC 4631 is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation Canes Venatici (the hunting dogs) seen edge-on. It is one of a close trio of bright galaxies; two of which are visible in this image. All three have been graviationally ‘involved’ with each other in the past. That interaction is evident in the distortion of the large galaxy visible here and the third galaxy off the image to the lower left. The asymmetry about the central bulge and the prominent bright region of newly forming stars on the lower left edge has given the galaxy the common name of ‘The Whale Galaxy’.
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This image is a stack of thirty 120 second exposures taken on the evening of the 26th of March. The dimmest star in this image is a magnitude 20.3 and nothing in this image is visible to the naked eye. Unlike most of my imagery, north is up and east to the left.