NGC 986 - Galaxy in Fornax - The Furnace

James Dunlop discovered this beautiful galaxy in 1828. It is a Barred Spiral Galaxy located in the constellation Fornax, The Furnace. NGC 986 presents itself almost face on, highlighting two large (slightly warped ) extended arms that start at either end of the bar. An interesting grouping of stars forming a line pointing outwards adds a bit of uniqueness to the galaxy. It almost looks as if the galaxy is shooting stuff out into the cosmos, or a funky antenna.

 

Star-forming areas filled with young blue stars are spread along the prominent arms. The resulting blues are always a nice treat in galaxy shots. NGC 986 presents a fairly small target with an apparent size of 4.17 X 3.02 arcmin and distant at 56 million light-years away. Given that, it’s still fairly bright at 11th-magnitude.

 

Fornax is one of my favourite areas with so many galaxies. The very rich Fornax Cluster of galaxies tends to be a favourite with many imagers. I wasn’t sure how to present this attractive galaxy, small within a sea of stars, or cropped to focus on the galaxy itself. In the end, I went with about a one-third crop of my field of view to retain a bit of perspective, showing the galaxy against a sea of stars.

 

Instruments:

10 Inch fl 9.1 RCOS

Astro Physics AP-900 Mount

SBIG STL 11000m

FLI Filter Wheel

Astrodon Lum, Red, Green, Blue Filters

 

Exposure Details:

Red 18 X 600 Bin 1X1

Green 18 X 600 Bin 1X1

Blue 18 X 600 Bin 1X1

Lum 47 X 900 Bin 1X1

Total Time: 20.75 Hours

 

Done