Caldwell 38 - The Needle Galaxy

I have a vague memory from when I was about six years old. I don’t remember exactly where or when, but I recall seeing an image of a long, needle-shaped galaxy. Because it was the first galaxy I ever saw in a image, it has always stuck with me in a hazy sort of way. For some time now, I’ve been almost certain that it must have been Caldwell 38, better known as The Needle Galaxy.

Back when I started with deepsky astrophotography, the object was just a bit too small to capture properly with my Redcat 51 telescope. But since I got my Askar 103APO, that’s no longer an issue. What else can I tell you about the Needle Galaxy except for my old memory of it? It’s an edge-on spiral galaxy located about 40 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It is famous for its thin, elongated shape that resembles a needle when viewed from our planet. The Needle Galaxy is considered one of the best examples of an edge-on spiral galaxy and is similar in size and shape to our own Milky Way.

After finishing the editing part, I went on a small quest to find the earliest image of The Needle galaxy I could find, and found one photographed by engineer Isaac Roberts back in 1896. His image of The Needle Galaxy is one of the earliest long exposure photographs of a galaxy!