NGC 4565 is a very well-known edge-on galaxy in Coma Berenices, easily seen in amateur telescopes. It lies about 40M light-years away and is about 100,000 light-years across, making it about 30% larger than our Milky Way galaxy. Its luminosity is estimated to be greater than the Andromeda Galaxy, so it would be a spectacular deep-sky object if viewed face-on. However, the edge-on view reveals some of the intricate structure in the dust lanes, slightly reminiscent of the structure seen in the dark belts of Jupiter. Numerous small and faint background galaxies can be seen in the field, especially near the left-hand end of NGC 4565.
This image was taken with a 12.5-inch PlaneWave CDK telescope and a QSI 640ws camera working at f/8. The total integration time was just over 5 hours (LRGB) from a dark-sky site near Anza, CA. on 4/12/2013.
-- Bruce Waddington