NGC 4731 is a barred spiral galaxy located 65 million light years from Earth in the Virgo galaxy cluster. The galaxy presents an unusual shape with its arms highly distorted due to interaction with NGC 4697. NGC 4731 contains numerous clusters of young blue stars throughout its arms.
Imaged in LRGB and on our CDK 1000 at El Sauce (Obstech) in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Integration Time: 20 hours 30 minutes
Image Processing: Mike Selby