IC 4351


Combination of 10, 3 minute exposures, SBIG ST8XE CCD camera.
300mm f/6 newtonian telescope at prime focus.

IC 4351 is a beautiful edge-on spiral galaxy on the CEntaurus/Hydra border, about 2 degrees east of M83. As the image above shows, it has a bright central bulge crossed by a dark dust lane.

There are more than a dozen other very faint galaxies in the image, however only one is listed in "The Sky". This galaxy is about halfway between IC 4351 and the bright star at the lower right. It is the 16.8 magnitude PGC 729818.