Click here for a higher-resolution image

A nice pairing, in the constellation Virgo, of a nearly-edge-on spiral galaxy (NGC 4517, at the bottom) with a face-on spiral (NGC 4517A, at top), both lying about 50 million light years from us. Note that "NGC 4517A" is an informal name; this galaxy is more correctly identified as UGC 7685. This scene is located near the celestial equator and also very close to the ecliptic. As a result of being close to the ecliptic it is usually possible to catch a few asteroids passing through the field. Four asteroid trails are visible here, three in the upper left quadrant of the image and one to the lower right of NGC 4517.

These asteroids are labeled with their names in the high-resolution image (see link above), which is also annotated to show several hundred additional galaxies and quasars in the frame. Galaxy names are shown in yellow, quasars in cyan. Each name is followed by a magnitude number and distance (look-back distance in millions of light years, or billion if it ends in "b").