NGC 4565, also called the Needle Galaxy was first spotted in 1785 by Uranus' discoverer, Sir William Herschel (1738-1822).
This is one of the most famous example of an edge-on spiral galaxy and is located some 30 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices (Berenice's Hair). It displays a bright yellowish central bulge that juts out above most impressive dust lanes. It is relatively close, only 12 times farther away than Messier 31, the Andromeda galaxy, which is the major galaxy closest to us, it is relatively large (roughly one third larger than the Milky Way). Many background galaxies are also visible in this image, giving full meaning to their nickname of "island universes".