There’s a certain magic to the sight of an edge-on galaxy. Even though the famous Sombrero galaxy (Messier 104) earned its name buy its resemblance to headwear, edge-on galaxies often look a more like an enormous space ship, or maybe a rip in space and time. Galaxy NGC 891 has that spectral look, resembling something from the dream of some ill-fated Lovecraftian protagonist than a big hat. Here’s more from Astronomy Now:

NGC 891 is a very attractive proposition for amateur imagers, with deep images easily capturing the prominent obscuring lane of dust and interstellar gas that runs along the entirety of its 13.5 arcminute-long major axis. Unlike the aforementioned NGC 4565, no prominent bulge is present. Although shining at a relatively bright magnitude +10, on a transparent and moonless night you’ll probably need a four-inch telescope to spot it as a needle-like slither of light and the greatly increased light grasp and resolution of a 300mm (12-inch) ‘scope to glimpse the dust lane.

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