The Caldwell Objects

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Silver Needle Galaxy
NGC 4244
Type: Spiral Galaxy
(Scd)
Con: Canes Venatici
RA: 12 h 17.5 m
Dec: +37° 48'
Mag: 10.4
Dim: 15.8' χ 1.7'
SB: 14.2
Dist: 10 million light-
years
Disc: William
Herschel, 1787
W. HERSCHEL: [Observed 17 March 1787] Very bright. Extended
60° from south preceding to north following [from southwest to
northeast]. 20' in length [and] 2' broad. (HV-41)
NGC 4244 is A VERY LATE-TYPE SPIRAL GALAXY seen
exactly edge on. The galaxy displays no central
bulge of any consequence, but it does have a tiny
central condensation. In long-exposure
photographs, such as one taken through the 200inch
reflector atop Palomar Mountain, the galaxy's
entire surface is resolved into stars, with one
obvious dark lane running through the galaxy's
center along its major axis. The late astronomers
Gerard de Vaucouleurs (University of Texas) and
Erik B. Holmberg (Uppsala Astronomical Observatory,
Sweden) determined that the galaxy must be
nearby because its stars can be resolved throughout
its surface. They estimated that the galaxy must be
more distant than the farthest members of the
Local Group but not so distant as the M81 and
Μ101 groups. Modern studies support this
hypothesis. With a modest linear diameter of
46,000 light-years and a
The Caldwell Objects
GC / NGC: Pretty bright, very large, extremely extended
toward position angle 43°, very gradually brighter in
the middle.
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total mass of 9.8 billion Suns, NGC 4244 is receding
from us at 250 km per second while spinning
about its core at 90 km per second.
NGC 4244 shines at magnitude 10.4 and can
be found about 4½° southwest of 4th-mag-nitude
Beta (β) Canum Venaticorum, just 30' west of a
pair of 7th-magnitude stars. The challenge is to
see the galaxy with 7x35 binoculars, which I did
with some difficulty under a dark sky, using
averted vision. Even in binoculars, the galaxy
appears as a wafer-thin wisp of light with an
extremely low surface brightness. At 23x in the 4inch
NGC 4244 is, with just a glance, a
compelling yet ghostly ellipse. A more
concentrated visual effort reveals an uncanny
sharpness to the galaxy's slender shape, which is
why Arizona amateur Tom Polakis calls it the
Silver Needle. The core appears obviously bright,
while some beading is apparent along the length
of the galaxy. Most noteworthy are
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