A Bridge Spanning Galaxies

These beautiful galaxies are located in the southern constellation Antlia (pronounced ˈæntliə). This constellation is south of the celestial equator. It also has the name of “The Air Pump” and is abbreviated as “Ant” (International Astronomical Union) or “Antl” (NASA).

The small Spiral Galaxy near the centre is NGC 3354. It has a visual magnitude of 13.18 and an angular size of 0.7 X 0.7 arcmin (a relatively small target). The larger galaxy to the left is a Barred Spiral Galaxy, NGC3347.

If you look carefully, there appears to be a bridge of matter between the two. I find this fascinating. Imagine living on a planet circling a star somewhere between the two galaxies. What would you see? Would it look comparable to what I might see on Earth with the centre of our Milky Way high overhead and a larger version of the Magellanic Clouds on the other side of my horizon?

The final galaxy is NGC3358, a Lenticular Galaxy, located in the top right of the frame.

 

Exposure Details:

Red 12 X 600

Green 12 X 600

Blue 4 X 600

Lum 44 X 600

Total Exposure: 12.0 Hours

 

 

Instruments:

Telescope: 10" Ritchey-Chrétien RCOS

Camera: SBIG STL-11000 Mono

Mount: Astro-Physics AP-900

Focal Length: 2310.00 mm

Pixel size: 9.00 um

Resolution: 0.82 arcsec/pix

 

Thanks for looking.

Done