101 Must-See Cosmic Objects: The Needle Galaxy

Observers love looking at face-on spiral galaxies. There’s something captivating about seeing a disk of light with a concentrated core and magnificent sweeping arms containing millions of stars suspended in your eyepiece. But edge-on spirals offer an alternative view, and some observers enjoy them just as much. The finest example in the sky is the Needle Galaxy (NGC 4565), discovered by William Herschel in 1785.

NGC 4565 lies in the constellation Coma Berenices, 3° southeast of magni