NGC 4631, also known as The Whale Galaxy, is located in Canes Venatici. It is a 9.5 magnitude edge on spiral galaxy whose low surface brightness makes it very difficult to see from my urban Ottawa backyard. Under the darker skies out of town The Whale is very bright and very large. The mottled nature of the galaxy is very apparent. The Pup, NGC 4627, is the smaller galaxy, at magnitude 13. I made this graphite sketch using my 12″ Dob at 88x at a site near Almonte, Ontario, Canada on May 20, at 0040EDT.
Clear skies,
Gordon
Gordon,
Isn’t this a fine pair of galaxies? Love your sketch of them.
Frank 🙂