NGC 4244 (Canes Venatici)
Fig. 1 - A silver needle in the sky: NGC 4244 (Caldwell 26) in Canes Venatici, photographed with a 16-inch f/4.5 Dob on an equatorial platform.
| Object name: | Constellation: | Coordinates: | Apparent size: | Visual brightness: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NGC 4244 | Canes Venatici | 12h17m / +37°48' | 17.0' x 2.2' | 10.2 mag |
The edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 4244 (Caldwell 26, "Silver Needle Galaxy") in the constellation Canes Venatici. NGC 4244 is a member of the Canes Venatici I Group of galaxies (together with Messier 94 and Messier 106) and lies approximately 14 million light-years away from Earth. NGC 4244 was discovered by German-born British astronomer Frederick William Herschel in 1787 (source: Wikipedia).
Exposure time: 2h 12min (45x approx. 3min) at ISO 800, taken on May 8 / 9, 2021. Processing with DeepSkyStacker and Photoshop. No calibration frames were taken.
Equipment: Nikon D7500 Lifepixel h-alpha modified camera, TeleVue Universal Paracorr coma corrector, 16" f/4.5 "Ninja" dobsonian telescope riding on a dual-axis Tom Osypowski equatorial platform, Lacerta MGEN autoguider, Lacerta off axis system.
Field of view comparison: image of the moon with the same equipment.
Fig. 2 - Search chart for NGC 4244. Copyright 2025 'The Mag-7 Star Atlas Project', www.siaris.net.