NGC 4244 - Silver Needle Galaxy

NGC 4244 is a nearby spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici. It is located near the naked-eye G-class star β CVn.

This edge-on spiral galaxy shines at magnitude 10.2, and extends to extremely elongated dimensions of 1.8' x 16.2'. This galaxy appears as a thin ghostly streak that comes to a point on either end. At the center is a bright, nearly stellar core.

NGC 4244 lies approximately 6.5 million light years away. Periodic "clumping" of stellar regions along its disk indicates that this galaxy probably has widely spaced arms (type Sc).