If the galaxy is oriented edge-on, it appears cigar-shaped, sometimes with a dark
dust lane bisecting it.
That abrupt drop in brightness marks the position of a dark
dust lane between two of the spiral arms on the galaxy's near side.
In the 1840s astronomer Sir John Herschel observed a dark streak running across the galaxy, now known to be a thick
dust lane.
Seen visually there is probably nothing more impressive than an edge-on galaxy complete with a rippled
dust lane filling the field of view of a large telescope, and NGC 4565 is one of the most impressive in this respect.
I t is the last issue of the Red
Dust Lane Blackboard Newsletter for 2006.
It is a beautiful spiral galaxy, displaying a
dust lane stretching in a north-south direction, and gradually brightening to a small but very bright nucleus.
Melong, another student from Red
Dust Lane, entered the Shanghai Teacher's College with his score actually lower than Lihua's because of his worker family background.
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) showed a
dust lane, M15 was resolved to the core, and he even spotted Neptune's moon, Triton.
Look for the dark
dust lane that divides it nearly in half.
One of the most obvious features in images of the galaxy is the dark
dust lane running along its length.
The galaxy is tilted just enough that the core peeks over the
dust lane, so it looks like a bright star right there at the center.
That marks the innermost edge of the dark
dust lane that's so prominent in photographs.