NGC-4631 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). Its distorted shape gives it the appearance of a whale, hence its nickname "The Whale Galaxy" It lies 30 million light years from earth and is 120,000 light years in diameter. It and its close companion, dwarf galaxy NGC-4627, are known collectively as Arp 281. NGC-4631 was discovered by Sir William Herschel in 1787.
This image, acquired on April 20, 2020, is a 1 hour integration of 6 minute exposures through the Celestron C-11 at f/2, using the HyperStar III imaging system and the ZWO ASI 071MC color CMOS camera operating at -10 degrees below ambient temperature and binned 1 X 1. Guided, captured and combined using Maxim DL5 Pro. Post processed using PhotoShop CS2, Gradient XTerminator, StarShrink, Carboni's Astro Tools and NoiseWare.