Canes Venatici is one of the 88 official modern constellations. It is a small northern constellation that was created by Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century. Its name is Latin for 'hunting dogs', and the constellation is often depicted in illustrations as representing the dogs of Boötes the Herdsman, a neighboring constellation.
The New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars is an astronomical catalogue of deep-sky objects compiled by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888. The NGC contains 7,840 objects, including galaxies, star clusters, emission nebulae and absorption nebulae. Dreyer published two supplements to the NGC in 1895 and 1908, known as the Index Catalogues, describing a further 5,386 astronomical objects. Thousands of these objects are best known by their NGC or IC numbers, which remain in widespread use.
The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a, M51a, and NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. Its distance is estimated to be 31 million light-years away from Earth.
NGC 4656/57 is a highly warped barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici and is sometimes informally called the Hockey Stick Galaxies or the Crowbar Galaxy. The galaxy is a member of the NGC 4631 Group. A Luminous Blue Variable in "super-outburst" was discovered in NGC 4656/57 on March 21, 2005.
NGC 5033 is an inclined spiral galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici. Distance estimates vary from between 38 and 60 million light years from the Milky Way. The galaxy has a very bright nucleus and a relatively faint disk. Significant warping is visible in the southern half of the disk. The galaxy's relatively large angular size and relatively high surface brightness make it an object that can be viewed and imaged by amateur astronomers. The galaxy's location relatively near Earth and its active galactic nucleus make it a commonly studied object for professional astronomers.
NGC 5005, also known as Caldwell 29, is an inclined spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. The galaxy has a relatively bright nucleus and a bright disk that contains multiple dust lanes. The galaxy's high surface brightness makes it an object that is visible to amateur astronomers using large amateur telescopes.
NGC 4618 is a distorted barred dwarf galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. The galaxy is formally classified as a Sm galaxy, which means that its structure vaguely resembles the structure of spiral galaxies. The galaxy is sometimes referred to as a Magellanic spiral because of its resemblance to the Magellanic clouds.
NGC 4627 is a dwarf elliptical galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici.
NGC 4244, also known as Caldwell 26, is an edge-on loose spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici, and is part of the M94 Group or Canes Venatici I Group, a galaxy group relatively close to the Local Group containing the Milky Way. In the sky, it is located near the yellow naked-eye star, Beta Canum Venaticorum, but also near the barred spiral galaxy NGC 4151 and irregular galaxy NGC 4214.
NGC 9 is a spiral galaxy about 140 million light years away in the Pegasus constellation. It was discovered on 27 September 1865 by Otto Wilhelm von Struve.
NGC 4490, also known as the Cocoon Galaxy, is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It lies at a distance of 25 million light years from Earth. It interacts with its smaller companion NGC 4485 and as a result is a starburst galaxy. NGC 4490 and NGC 4485 are collectively known in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies as Arp 269. NGC 4490 is located 3/4° northwest of beta Canum Venaticorum and with apparent visual magnitude 9.8, can be observed with 15x100 binoculars. It is a member of Herschel 400 Catalogue. It belongs in Canes Venatici galaxy cloud II.
NGC 156 is a double star located in the Cetus constellation. It was discovered on 1882 by Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel.
NGC 4873 is a lenticular galaxy located about 270 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. NGC 4873 was discovered by astronomer Heinrich d'Arrest on May 10, 1863. The galaxy is a member of the Coma Cluster.
NGC 6056 is a barred lenticular galaxy located about 525 million light-years away in the constellation Hercules. It was discovered by astronomer Lewis Swift on June 8, 1886. It was then rediscovered by Swift on June 8, 1888 and was later listed as IC 1176. NGC 6056 is a member of the Hercules Cluster.
NGC 6061 is a lenticular galaxy with radio activity located about 490 million light-years away in the constellation Hercules. The galaxy is classified as a head-tail radio galaxy and was discovered by astronomer Lewis Swift on June 8, 1886. NGC 6061 is a member of the Hercules Cluster.
NGC 5395 is an interacting spiral galaxy located at a distance of 160 million light years, but receding away from the earth at 3511 kilometers per second, in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by William Herschel on May 16, 1787. NGC 5395 and NGC 5394 are included in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies as Arp 84 in the category "Spiral galaxies with large high surface brightness companions".
NGC 709 is a lenticular galaxy located 150 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by the Irish engineer and astronomer Bindon Blood Stoney on October 28, 1850 and is a member of the galaxy cluster Abell 262.
NGC 710 is a spiral galaxy located 260 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by the Irish engineer and astronomer Bindon Blood Stoney on October 28, 1850 and is a member of the galaxy cluster Abell 262.
NGC 4163, also known as NGC 4167 is a dwarf irregular galaxy in constellation Canes Venatici, about 9.65 million light-years away. It was discovered by William Herschel on April 28, 1785 as NGC 4163. John Herschel discovered it again on March 11, 1831 as NGC 4167. It has a size on night sky 1.9' x 1.6' and it, with distance, gives diameter of 4000 light-years. This galaxy is made by young blue stars. It is a member of M94 Group.
