geoffhealey56
M77v2
Galaxies and Stars in Cetus.
Upper right lies Messier 77 (M77), also known as NGC 1068 or the Squid Galaxy, it is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus. It is about 47 million light-years away from Earth. Messier 77 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780, who originally described it as a nebula. Méchain then communicated his discovery to Charles Messier, who subsequently listed the object in his catalog. Both Messier and William Herschel described this galaxy as a star cluster.[8] Today, however, the object is known to be a galaxy.
Lower down at a distance of 52 million light years is the edge on spiral galaxy NGC1055. This galaxy has a prominent nuclear bulge crossed by a wide, knotty, dark lane of dust and gas. The spiral arm structure appears to be elevated above the galaxy's plane and obscures the upper half of the bulge. Discovered on December 19, 1783 by William Herschel from his home in Slough England.
Both of these galaxies form a binary system.
Littered around the background are a large number of very small and much more distant galaxies.
Shining brightly is the +4 magnitude star Delta Ceti, at a much closer 650 million light years. It is also a beta Cephei Variable with a cycle of around .16 days and is around 4000 times the luminosity of our sun.
Taken over 2 nights at LMDSS with 68x240sec RGB frames giving a total integration of 4.5 hours.
Astroworx 250mm F4 Truss Newtonian, QHY268M CMOS camera (High Gain Mode 56 G=35 O=25), Optolong RGB filters, TS Wynne 3” coma corrector, CEM70 mount. Captured with Voyager and Processed with Pixinsight.
M77v2
Galaxies and Stars in Cetus.
Upper right lies Messier 77 (M77), also known as NGC 1068 or the Squid Galaxy, it is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus. It is about 47 million light-years away from Earth. Messier 77 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780, who originally described it as a nebula. Méchain then communicated his discovery to Charles Messier, who subsequently listed the object in his catalog. Both Messier and William Herschel described this galaxy as a star cluster.[8] Today, however, the object is known to be a galaxy.
Lower down at a distance of 52 million light years is the edge on spiral galaxy NGC1055. This galaxy has a prominent nuclear bulge crossed by a wide, knotty, dark lane of dust and gas. The spiral arm structure appears to be elevated above the galaxy's plane and obscures the upper half of the bulge. Discovered on December 19, 1783 by William Herschel from his home in Slough England.
Both of these galaxies form a binary system.
Littered around the background are a large number of very small and much more distant galaxies.
Shining brightly is the +4 magnitude star Delta Ceti, at a much closer 650 million light years. It is also a beta Cephei Variable with a cycle of around .16 days and is around 4000 times the luminosity of our sun.
Taken over 2 nights at LMDSS with 68x240sec RGB frames giving a total integration of 4.5 hours.
Astroworx 250mm F4 Truss Newtonian, QHY268M CMOS camera (High Gain Mode 56 G=35 O=25), Optolong RGB filters, TS Wynne 3” coma corrector, CEM70 mount. Captured with Voyager and Processed with Pixinsight.