NGC 4725 (March 25, 2012)

This beautiful galaxy is between 34 million and 71 million light years away, but most estimates are huddled around 41 million light years.  It is found, like M64, in the constellation Coma Berenices.  The galaxy is classified as an intermediate barred spiral, but you can see something like that.  It is peculiar, though, in that it appears to have just one spiral arm.  NGC 4725 is also classified as a Seyfert galaxy, which means that a spectrum taken of its nucleus appears to show bright light from certain ionized gases moving at great speeds both toward us and away from us.  An accretion disk around a very large black hole is a good explanation for this data, so one is suspected at NGC 4725's heart.

Telescope: Orion 10" f/4.7 Newtonian and Baader RCC1
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9, 17x8'
Filter: IDAS-LPS2
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, Maxim DL, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX