NGC 5907 – The Splinter Galaxy and its Ghostly Arc

GC 5907, also known as the Splinter Galaxy, might look at first like a simple edge-on spiral, located about 40 million light-years away in the constellation Draco.

However, long exposures reveal a faint grey cloud surrounding it: a stellar arc stretching over 150,000 light-years into space — the remains of a small satellite galaxy, torn apart and absorbed by NGC 5907 more than 4 billion years ago.

A cosmic scar, quietly telling the story of how massive galaxies like this one — and even our Milky Way — formed: by merging with smaller companions.

This image was captured over the past six months in multiple remote sessions from Spain, with a total of over 12 hours of integration.

 

🔭 Technical data

• Telescope 1: Planewave CDK 500 (500 mm aperture, 2900 mm focal length), ZWO ASI 6200 MM camera, Baader L filter

→ 60 x 300 s, binning 2x2

• Telescope 2: Dall Kirkham ADA300 (300 mm aperture, 2000 mm focal length), 10Micron GM2000 mount, QSI 726 Mono camera, Baader RGB filters

→ 30 x 300 s per channel, binning 1x1

Done