Astronomy Picture of the Day · August 21, 2009

The Whale and the Hockey Stick

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 21, 2009 is “The Whale and the Hockey Stick,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Credit & Copyright: Josef Poepsel, Stefan Binnewies ( Capella Observatory )). The original explanation runs about 154 words.

From the explanation

“NGC 4631 is a big beautiful spiral galaxy seen edge-on (top right) only 25 million light-years away towards the small northern constellation Canes Venatici . This galaxy’s slightly distorted wedge shape suggests to some a cosmic herring and to others the popular moniker of The Whale Galaxy.”

— APOD editors, August 21, 2009

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date: August 21, 2009
Type: Image
Credit: Credit & Copyright: Josef Poepsel, Stefan Binnewies ( Capella Observatory )
Copyright: Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length: About 154 words

All of August 2009 → · 2009 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

Galaxies

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: August 21 in other years

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Source

Astronomy Picture of the Day, August 21, 2009 — science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2009-august-21-the-whale-and-the-hockey-stick

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.