NGC 4565

Combination of 3, 3 minute images, Meade 416xt CCD.
8" f/6 newtonian telescope at prime focus.

NGC 4565 is a beautiful, edge-on spiral galaxy in Coma. It is an outlying member of the Virgo galaxy cluster, which covers a large portion of the sky centred on the Coma/Virgo border. The cluster lies at a distance of about 60 million light years.

Combination of 3, 3 minute images, Meade 416xt CCD.
300mm f/6 newtonian telescope prime focus.

Combination of 10, 3 minute images unfiltered.
SBIG ST-9XE CCD. 10" f/6.3 schmidt-cassegrain telescope at prime focus.

Combination of 10, 3 minute images unfiltered.
SBIG STL-1001E CCD. 16" f/10 schmidt-cassegrain telescope at prime focus.

NGC 4565 is generally considered as the best example of an edge-on galaxiy. In an 8" telescope the dark lane is just visible, while in a 12" telescope or larger, the galaxy is a really fine sight.
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Combination of 20, 3 minute images unfiltered
and 10, 3 minute images with red, green and blue filters.
SBIG STL-1001E CCD. 20" f/6.8 Dall-Kirkham cassegrain telescope at prime focus.

The faint galaxy to the lower right is the 13.7 magnitude, NGC 4562, while just above the centre of NGC 4565 is the 16.9 magnitude IC 3571. At the top of the image is another 14th magnitude IC galaxy, IC 3582.