View allAll Photos Tagged SPIRALGALAXY
Dates: 23-24, 26-28 April 2025
Location: Washington D.C.
Equipment:
ASI 2600MM Pro (monochrome) camera
Chroma 36mm LRGB Filter Set
WO Fluorostar 91mm f/5.9 triplet APO refractor with Adjustable Field Flattener 68III
iOptron GEM28-EC mount
Data and exposure times:
Data was acquired as LRGB images with the following exposure times:
14.11 hours (242x210s subs) with Luminance filter (L).
3.50 hours (60x210s subs) with Red filter (R).
3.56 hours (61x210s subs) with Green filter (G).
3.44 hours (59x210s subs) with Blue filter (B).
Atmospheric conditions:
The shown image was developed from data acquired in a Bortle Class 8 area (i.e. in an environment experiencing a degree of light pollution typical of a city) where the sky quality during observation was such that both transparency (i.e. the level of atmospheric clarity) and seeing (i.e. the level of atmospheric turbulence) varied from average to below average.
Processed in PixInsight.
Preprocessing notes:
Created LRGB "masters" by Calibration, Cosmetic Correction, Weighted Subframes, Star Alignment, and Integration.
Postprocessing notes:
a. Dynamic Cropping of LRGB masters each to the same dimensions having a 3:2 aspect ratio.
b. Applied a Screen Transfer Function to view the resulting images.
c. For the L master: Applied a Dynamic Background Extractor and saved the settings to be used later when applying a DBE on the RGB masters.
d. Applied BlurXT and NoiseXT.
e. Applied a Histogram Transformation. This step generated a nonlinear image which was saved as a postprocessed L image.
f. "Built" a color image from the R, G and B masters by using LRGB Combination and applied a DBE to the color image using the same DBE settings as used for the L master.
g. Since a color image is involved, this necessitated the application of Background Neutralization and Color Calibration to the result from step f above.
h. Applied BlurXT, NoiseXT and a Histogram Transformation. Saved the nonlinear result as a postprocessed RGB image.
i. Used LRGB Combination to "apply" an instance from the postprocessed L image to the postprocessed RGB image.
j. Applied StarXterminator to create starless (i.e. containing the target image - in this case M51) and stars-only images.
k. Processed the starless image, after applying a range selection mask to protect the background area, using Local Histogram Equalization, Curves Transformation and Color Saturation. Curves Transformation was used only to boost the saturation whereas Color Saturation was used to enhance specific color hues.
l. Applied SCNR (Subtractive Chromatic Noise Reduction). Removed mask and used an expression in Pixel Math to combine the result from step k above with the stars-only image from step j.
m. As a final step, after protecting the target image with a Star Mask, applied a (star reduction) Morphological Transformation to the result from step l above.
Some of the galaxies I pictured during the last year with the EQ6-R pro.
Quelques unes des galaxies que j'ai pu photographié durant cette année à l'aide de la monture EQ6-R pro.
Source: hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2011/06/
Retouching: Lightroom 3
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February 17, 2011: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals a majestic disk of stars and dust lanes in this view of the spiral galaxy NGC 2841, which lies 46 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear).
Two enormous galaxies drift through the cosmic void in this striking Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy on the left is a lenticular galaxy named 2MASX J03193743+4137580. The side-on spiral galaxy on the right is more simply named UGC 2665. Both galaxies lie approximately 350 million light-years from Earth, and they both form part of the enormous Perseus galaxy cluster.
The Perseus cluster is one of the biggest objects in the known universe, consisting of thousands of galaxies, only a few of which are visible in this image. The wonderful detail in the image is thanks to Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3's powerful resolution and high sensitivity. Wide Field Camera 3 is sensitive to both visible and infrared light, so those are the wavelengths that are captured in this image.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Harris
Acknowledgement: L. Shatz
For more information, visit: esahubble.org/images/potw2127a/
The graceful winding arms of the grand-design spiral galaxy M51 stretch across this image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Unlike the menagerie of weird and wonderful spiral galaxies with ragged or disrupted spiral arms, grand-design spiral galaxies boast prominent, well-developed spiral arms like the ones showcased in this image. This galactic portrait was captured by Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam).
In this image, the dark red features trace the filamentary warm dust, while colours of red, orange, and yellow show the sign spots of ionised gas by the recently formed star clusters. Stellar feedback has a dramatic effect on the medium of the galaxy and create complex network of bright knots as well as cavernous black bubbles.
M51 — also known as NGC 5194 — lies about 27 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici, and is trapped in a tumultuous relationship with its near neighbour, the dwarf galaxy NGC 5195. The interaction between these two galaxies has made these galactic neighbours one of the better-studied galaxy pairs in the night sky. The gravitational influence of M51’s smaller companion is thought to be partially responsible for the stately nature of the galaxy’s prominent and distinct spiral arms. If you would like to learn more about this squabbling pair of galactic neighbours, you can explore earlier observations of M51 by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope here.
This Webb observation of M51 is one of a series of observations collectively titled Feedback in Emerging extrAgalactic Star clusTers, or FEAST. The FEAST observations were designed to shed light on the interplay between stellar feedback and star formation in environments outside of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Stellar feedback is the term used to describe the outpouring of energy from stars into the environments which form them, and is a crucial process in determining the rates at which stars form. Understanding stellar feedback is vital to building accurate universal models of star formation.
The aim of the FEAST observations is to discover and study stellar nurseries in galaxies beyond our own Milky Way. Before Webb became operative, other observatories such as the Atacama Large Millimetre Array in the Chilean desert and Hubble have given us a glimpse of star formation either at the onset (tracing the dense gas and dust clouds where stars will form) or after the stars have destroyed with their energy their natal gas and dust clouds. Webb is opening a new window into the early stages of star formation and stellar light, as well as the energy reprocessing of gas and dust. Scientists are seeing star clusters emerging from their natal cloud in galaxies beyond our local group for the first time. They will also be able to measure how long it takes for these stars to pollute with newly formed metals and to clean out the gas (these time scales are different from galaxy to galaxy). By studying these processes, we will better understand how the star formation cycle and metal enrichment are regulated within galaxies as well as what are the time scales for planets and brown dwarfs to form. Once dust and gas is removed from the newly formed stars, there is no material left to form planets.
[Image Description: A large spiral galaxy takes up the entirety of the image. The core is mostly bright white, but there are also swirling, detailed structures that resemble water circling a drain. There is white and pale blue light that emanates from stars and dust at the core’s centre, but it is tightly limited to the core. The rings feature colours of deep red and orange, which are surrounded by cloudier regions of white and grey, with regions of black surrounding the distinct narrow spiral arms.]
Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the FEAST JWST team
The first shot was taken on March 19th, ab out 2 months before the supernova was discovered. The second shot was taken on May 23, 2023 and by this point, it had already grown enormously.
Both images were taken with:
* TPO 6" f/4 Newt on Advanced VX Mount
* Mount controlled via Astroberry
* 533MC Pro
* Svbony 60mm guide scope with ZWO ASI120MM-Mini guide cam
* Stacked in AstroPixelProcess .
* Post Processing in photoshop: Some noise reduction and color saturation to tease out the supernova
Mar 19 image:
* 60x120 Sec Lights
* 30 darks
* 30 Flats
* 35 bias
May 23 image:
* 130x60 Sec Lights
* 28 darks
* 30 Flats
* 35 bias
Observed with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the faint galaxy featured in this image is known as UGC 12588. Unlike many spiral galaxies, UGC 12588 displays neither a bar of stars across its center nor the classic prominent spiral arm pattern. Instead, to a viewer, its circular, white and mostly unstructured center makes this galaxy more reminiscent of a cinnamon bun than a megastructure of stars and gas in space.
Lying in the constellation of Andromeda in the Northern Hemisphere, this galaxy is classified as a spiral galaxy. Unlike the classic image of a spiral galaxy, however, the huge arms of stars and gas in UGC 12588 are very faint, undistinguished, and tightly wound around its center. The clearest view of the spiral arms comes from the bluer stars sprinkled around the edges of the galaxy that highlight the regions where new star formation is most likely taking place.
Text credit: European Space Agency
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Tully; Acknowledgment: Gagandeep Anand
For more information: www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-captures-c...
Pictured here is the captivating galaxy NGC 2525. Located nearly 70 million light-years from Earth, this galaxy is part of the constellation of Puppis in the southern hemisphere. Hubble observed this galaxy to capture the appearance of an exploding star, a supernova.
Hubble began observing SN 2018gv in February 2018. Hubble astronomers were using the supernova as part of a program to precisely measure the expansion rate of the universe. The supernova serves as a milepost maker to measure galaxy distances, a fundamental value needed for measuring the expansion of space.
The supernova appears as a blazing, bluish star located on the galaxy's outer edge in the lower left portion of the frame. It initially outshone the brightest stars in the galaxy before fading out of sight.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Riess (STScI/JHU) and the SH0ES team
Acknowledgment: M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble)
For more information, visit: hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2020/news-2020-52
For a time-lapse of the fading supernova, see: hubblesite.org/contents/media/videos/2020/52/1287-Video?n...
M: iOptron EQ45-Pro
T: WO GTF81 Refractor
C: ZWO ASI1600MC-Cooled
G: 200mm (FL) Finder and PHD2
GC: ZWO ASI120MC
RAW16; FITs
Temp: -20 DegC
Gain 200; Exp 60s
Frames: 84 Lights; 10 Darks; 10 flats
60% Crop
Capture: Sharpcap
Processed: DSS; LR, PS, Gradient Exterminator.
Sky: No moon, breezy, no cloud, good seeing.
23.16 million light years distant.
Description: This image contains nearly a million seconds worth of Chandra observing time (purple) along with optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, and blue). The X-ray data reveal hundreds of point-like sources, most of which are X-ray binary systems (XRBs) containing a neutron star or black hole in orbit with a star like the Sun. Researchers are studying the XRBs in M51, a.k.a. the "Whirlpool Galaxy," to better understand the role they play in the evolution of the galaxy.
Creator: Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Record URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/m51/
This month, Webb presents a spectacular treat… for the eyes. The barred spiral galaxy M83 is revealed in detail by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. M83, which is also known as NGC 5236, was observed by Webb as part of a series of observations collectively titled Feedback in Emerging extrAgalactic Star clusTers, or FEAST. Another target of the FEAST observations, M51, was the subject of a previous Webb Picture of the Month. As with all six galaxies that comprise the FEAST sample, M83 and M51 were observed with both NIRCam and MIRI, two of the four instruments that are mounted on Webb.
MIRI, or the Mid-InfraRed Instrument, makes observations in the mid-infrared, which spans wavelengths of light very different from optical wavelengths. Optical wavelengths in astronomy roughly correspond to the range of light waves that human eyes are sensitive to, and extend from about 0.38 to 0.75 micrometres (a micrometre, or micron, is one thousandth of a millimetre). By contrast, MIRI detects light from 5 to 28 micrometres — however, when it makes observations, it does not typically observe across this entire wavelength range all at once. Instead, MIRI has a set of ten filters that allow very specific regions of light through. For example, one of MIRI’s filters (dubbed F770W), allows light with wavelengths of 6.581 to 8.687 micrometres to pass through it.
This image was compiled using data collected through just two of MIRI’s ten filters, near the short end of the instrument’s wavelength range. The result is this extraordinarily detailed image, with its creeping tendrils of gas, dust and stars. In this image, the bright blue shows the distribution of stars across the central part of the galaxy. The bright yellow regions that weave through the spiral arms indicate concentrations of active stellar nurseries, where new stars are forming. The orange-red areas indicate the distribution of a type of carbon-based compound known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (or PAHs) — the F770W filter, one of the two used here, is particularly suited to imaging these important molecules.
[Image Description: A close-up view of a barred spiral galaxy. Two spiral arms reach horizontally away from the core in the centre, merging into a broad network of gas and dust which fills the image. This material glows brightest orange along the path of the arms, and is darker red across the rest of the galaxy. Through many gaps in the dust, countless tiny stars can be seen, most densely around the core.]
Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the FEAST JWST team
17 x 10 minute subs taken with iTelescope T7 from Nerpio in Spain. The larger Messier 51 is interacting gravitationally with smaller NGC 5195.
A rich spiral pattern of dark dust clouds reaches deep into the galactic core where a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus is located - a dust ring obscures the central accretion disk and supermassive black hole from view.
Subs processed in PixInsight 1.8 with dithering, drizzling, deconvolution, HDR multiscale transform and PixelMath all being used. Final high pass/overlay in Photoshop.
A small edge on spiral galaxy IC 4277 is seen beneath NGC 5195 and a bright bar-like irregular galaxy, IC 4278 lies a third of the way along the bottom left.
Image taken remotely in Spain! Not Limavady!
This image of the center of spiral galaxy Messier 100 (M100) was taken after the Hubble Space Telescope's first servicing mission and showcased the dramatic improvement in Hubble's vision.
Hubble's vision upon launch was blurry due to a slight flaw in its mirror. Astronauts on the first servicing mission installed corrective optics to compensate for the flaw, and a new instrument — the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 — that had corrections for the flaw built in. This image was taken with that new instrument.
M100 is one of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. The spiral galaxy has two prominent arms of bright stars and several fainter arms.
For a comparison with Hubble's earlier image of M100, see: hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/1994/news-1994-01.html
Credit: NASA, STScI
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy NGC 4680. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: This image, taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), features the spiral galaxy NGC 4680. At 2 o’clock and 7 o’clock two other galaxies can be seen flanking NGC 4680. NGC 4680 enjoyed a wave of attention in 1997, as it played host to a supernova explosion known as SN 1997bp. Amazingly, the supernova was identified by an Australian amateur astronomer named Robert Evans, who has identified an extraordinary 42 supernova explosions. NGC 4680 is actually a rather tricky galaxy to classify. It is sometimes referred to as a spiral galaxy, but it is also sometimes classified as a lenticular galaxy. Lenticular galaxies fall somewhere in between spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies. Whilst NGC 4680 does have distinguishable spiral arms, they are not clearly defined, and the tip of one arm appears very diffuse. Galaxies are not static, and their morphologies (and therefore their classifications) vary throughout their lifetimes. Spiral galaxies are thought to evolve into elliptical galaxies, most likely by merging with one another, causing them to lose their distinctive spiral structures.
This is a Challenge in a newly formed Group, It is the Down Under Challenge 2022. We are small but growing and you are welcome to join us if you are into Photo Manipulation. The main idea here is to have fun with Challenges and the Challenge will be posted on the 1st of the month.
Only Challenge entries can be posted to this Group.
Take a look HERE
Description: This Chandra image of Sgr A* and the surrounding region was made from a 164 hours of observation time over a two-week period. During this time the black hole flared up in X-ray intensity half a dozen or more times. The cause of these outbursts is not understood, but the rapidity with which they rise and fall indicates that they are occurring near the event horizon, or point of no return, around the black hole. Also discovered were more than two thousand other X-ray sources and huge lobes of 20 million-degree Centigrade gas (the red loops in the image at approximately the 2 o'clock and 7 o'clock positions). The lobes indicate that enormous explosions occurred near the black hole several times over the last ten thousand years.
Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray
Date: 2003
Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Gift line: NASA/CXC/MIT/F.K.Baganoff et al.
Accession number: sagittariusA_03
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the trailing arms of NGC 2276, a spiral galaxy 120 million light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus. At first glance, the delicate tracery of bright spiral arms and dark dust lanes resembles countless other spiral galaxies. A closer look reveals a strangely lopsided galaxy shaped by gravitational interaction and intense star formation.
A neighboring galaxy to the right of NGC 2276 (NGC 2300, not seen here) is gravitationally tugging on its disk of blue stars, pulling the stars on one side of the galaxy outward to distort the galaxy's normal fried-egg appearance.
This sort of "tug of war" between galaxies that pass close enough to feel each other's gravitational pull is not uncommon in the universe. But, like snowflakes, no two close encounters look exactly alike.
In addition, newborn and short-lived massive stars form a bright, blue arm along the upper left edge of NGC 2276. They trace out a lane of intense star formation. This may have been triggered by a prior collision with a dwarf galaxy. It could also be due to NGC 2276 plowing into the superheated gas that lies among galaxies in galaxy clusters. This would compress the gas to precipitate into stars, and trigger a firestorm of starbirth.
Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Paul Sell (University of Florida)
Acknowledgement: Leo Shatz
For more information, visit: hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2021/news-2021-029
NGC 5907 (also known as Knife Edge Galaxy or Splinter Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy located approximately 50 million light years from Earth. Imaged with an 87% full moon causing a bit of processing anxiety.
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation: Draco
Right ascension: 15h 15m 53.8s
Declination: +56° 19′ 44″
Distance: 53.5 ± 8.1 Mly
Apparent magnitude (V): 11.1
Tech Specs: Orion 8” RC Telescope, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at -10F, 117 x 60 seconds, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in DSS and PixInsight software packages. Image Date: January 22, 2024. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
Looking deep into the universe, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope catches a passing glimpse of the numerous arm-like structures that sweep around this barred spiral galaxy, known as NGC 2608. Appearing as a slightly stretched, smaller version of our Milky Way, the peppered blue and red spiral arms are anchored together by the prominent horizontal central bar of the galaxy.
In Hubble photos like this, bright foreground stars in the Milky Way will sometimes appear as pinpoints of light with prominent light flares known as diffraction spikes, an effect of the telescope optics. A star with these features is seen in the lower right corner of the image, and another can be spotted just above the pale center of the galaxy. The majority of the fainter points around NGC 2608, however, lack these features, and upon closer inspection they are revealed to be thousands of distant galaxies. NGC 2608 is just one among an uncountable number of kindred structures.
Similar expanses of galaxies can be observed in other Hubble images such as the Hubble Deep Field, which recorded over 3,000 galaxies in one field of view.
For more information: www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-glimpses-a...
Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency)
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess et al.
This is a giant spiral galaxy seen almost perfectly edge-on. Located between 30 and 50 light years from us, it is more luminous than Andromeda which is itself more luminous than our galaxy. The orange colour reflects the old stars of the central bulge; the blue young stars prevail at the peripheral arms and the red reveals nebulae when new stars are being formed.
C11-HD telescope, G11 mount, STLXL camera at -35°C. Total exposure of 3h40': 90' in luminance (9 subs of 10'), 50' in red (10 subs of 5'), 40' in green (8 subs of 5') and 40' in blue (8 subs of 5').
In my 2 previous attempts, I could only manage black and white pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/trois_merlettes/4670532588/in/set-7... and www.flickr.com/photos/trois_merlettes/7182911772/in/set-7...
Edited European Southern Observatory image of the very pretty galaxy NGC 1398.
Original caption: This week’s picture shows spectacular ribbons of gas and dust wrapping around the pearly centre of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1398. This galaxy is located in the constellation of Fornax (The Furnace), approximately 65 million light-years away. Rather than beginning at the very middle of the galaxy and swirling outwards, NGC 1398’s graceful spiral arms stem from a straight bar, formed of stars, that cuts through the galaxy’s central region. Most spiral galaxies — around two thirds — are observed to have this feature, but it’s not yet clear whether or how these bars affect a galaxy’s behaviour and development. This image comprises data gathered by the FOcal Reducer/low dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) instrument, mounted on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal Observatory, Chile. It shows NGC 1398 in striking detail, from the dark lanes of dust mottling its spiral arms, through to the pink-hued star-forming regions sprinkled throughout its outer regions. This image was created as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems programme, an outreach initiative to produce images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes, for the purposes of education and public outreach. The programme makes use of telescope time that cannot be used for science observations. All data collected may also be suitable for scientific purposes, and are made available to astronomers through ESO’s science archive.
This is a combination of color (RGB) data from previous sessions (in March 2015 and November 2018), combined with Hα and OIII data from this year. This helped enhance the colors in the Owl Nebula, which is a planetary nebula that is in the upper left corner of this image. It also allowed finer details to be visible in both the nebula and the galaxy (M108).
Telescope: Celestron Edge HD 925 at f/2.3 with HyperStar
Cameras: Atik 314L+ one shot color (RGB)
Atik 414-EX with Atik Hα and OIII filters
Preprocessing in Nebulosity; alignment, stacking, channel combination and processing in PixInsight; final touches in Photoshop
North is at the right, and east at the top
Scale is 2.5" per pixel
Caldwell 29, also known as NGC 5005, is a spiral galaxy that likely harbors a supermassive black hole at its heart. The galaxy has a feature called a low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) nucleus, which means the gas at the center of the galaxy is emitting light at certain wavelengths that indicates a source of energy is removing electrons from the atoms in the gas (“ionizing” it). While a few different energy sources could be responsible for causing this emission, some of the most common are supermassive black holes or star-forming regions containing very hot young stars. Infrared observations by telescopes like Hubble have revealed that the stars in most nearby LINER galaxies are generally old, and X-ray observations of Caldwell 29 have revealed strong emission in the galaxy’s nucleus. This suggests that young stars may not be the ionizing energy source for galaxies like Caldwell 29, and that a supermassive black hole is the more likely culprit.
Caldwell 29 was discovered by the British astronomer William Herschel in 1785. It can be spotted with a small telescope in the constellation Canes Venatici. Although small and faint, with an apparent magnitude of 9.8, the galaxy has a compact core that makes it easier to spot than larger, brighter galaxies whose light is more spread out. It is located near another spiral galaxy, NGC 5033, and the two can be observed together with a wide field of view. Caldwell 29 is located roughly 75 million light-years from Earth. It can be observed during the Northern Hemisphere’s spring and from northern latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere during the autumn.
This image of Caldwell 29 is a composite of visible and infrared observations by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. The observations were taken to help astronomers better understand the relationship between the mass of black holes at the centers of galaxies and the structural properties of the galaxies in which they reside.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and L. Ho (Peking University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
For Hubble's Caldwell catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit:
The lazily winding spiral arms of the spectacular galaxy NGC 976 fill the frame of this image from the Hubble Space Telescope. This spiral galaxy lies around 150 million light-years from the Milky Way in the constellation Aries. Despite its tranquil appearance, NGC 976 has played host to one of the most violent astronomical phenomena known — a supernova explosion. These cataclysmically violent events take place at the end of the lives of massive stars, and can outshine entire galaxies for a short period.
While supernovae mark the deaths of massive stars, they are also responsible for the creation of heavy elements that are incorporated into later generations of stars and planets. Supernovae are also a useful aid for astronomers who measure the distances to faraway galaxies. The amount of energy thrown out into space by supernova explosions is very uniform, allowing astronomers to estimate their distances from how bright they appear to be when viewed from Earth. This image comes from a large collection of Hubble observations of nearby galaxies which host supernovae as well as a pulsating class of stars known as Cepheid variables. Both Cepheids and supernovae are used to measure astronomical distances, and galaxies containing both objects provide useful natural laboratories where the two methods can be calibrated against one another.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Jones, A. Riess et al.
For more information, visit: esahubble.org/images/potw2202a/
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy NGC 7513.
Original caption: Captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, this image shows NGC 7513, a barred spiral galaxy. Located approximately 60 million light-years away, NGC 7513 lies within the Sculptor constellation in the southern hemisphere. This galaxy is moving at the astounding speed of 1564 kilometres per second, and it is heading away from us. For context, the Earth orbits the Sun at about 30 kilometres per second. Though NGC 7513’s apparent movement away from the Milky Way might seem strange, it is not that unusual. While some galaxies, like the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy, are caught in each other’s gravitational pull and will eventually merge together, the vast majority of galaxies in our Universe appear to be moving away from each other. This phenomenon is due to the expansion of the Universe, and it is the space between galaxies that is stretching, rather than the galaxies themselves moving.
The spiral galaxy M91 was discovered by Charles Messier in 1781. It was the last of the nine objects (M84–M92) that Messier added to his catalog on a single night in March. Located 60 million light-years from Earth with an apparent magnitude of only 11, M91 is one of the faintest objects in Messier’s catalog. In a dark sky, the galaxy can be spotted with medium-sized telescopes in the constellation Coma Berenices most easily during May.
M91 is one of over a thousand galaxies that make up the Virgo cluster — a group of galaxies that are gravitationally bound to one another. It is an anemic galaxy, meaning that it has a lower rate of star formation compared to other spiral galaxies.
This image of M91 combines ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths. It was taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 as part of an effort to explore the connections between young stars and cold gas in a variety of nearby galaxies.
For more information about Hubble’s observations of M91, see: hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/1998/news-1998-10.html
For Hubble's Messier catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit: www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-messier-catalog
Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Lee (California Institute of Technology); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
Caldwell 45, or NGC 5248, is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Boötes, and it is notable for the ring structure around its nucleus. These nuclear rings are characterized by “hot spots” of starburst activity. Starburst regions are sites where stars form at a much higher rate than usual. At a distance of 59 million light-years, the starburst regions in Caldwell 45 are actually some of the nearest to Earth and are less visually obstructed than many others.
Caldwell 45 was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1784. The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of 10 and can be spotted using a small telescope, though it won’t appear very bright.
A larger telescope is needed to make out the galaxy’s spiral arms. The best time of year to observe Caldwell 45 is during the Northern Hemisphere’s spring and the Southern Hemisphere’s autumn.
This stunning Hubble image of Caldwell 45 is a composite of observations made by the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light. It captures the glowing red clouds where new stars are forming, scattered along the galaxy’s winding arms. These observations of Caldwell 45 were made to help astronomers learn more about gas in the galaxy’s starburst regions, as well as to better understand the structure of its nuclear rings.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Lee (California Institute of Technology); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
For Hubble's Caldwell catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit:
A notable feature of most spiral galaxies is the multitude of arching spiral arms that seemingly spin out from the galaxy’s center. In this image, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, the stunning silvery-blue spiral arms of the galaxy NGC 4848 are observed in immense detail. Not only do we see the inner section of the spiral arms containing hundreds of thousands of young, bright, blue stars, but Hubble has also captured the extremely faint wispy tails of the outer spiral arms.
For more information, visit: www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw2029a/
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Gregg
M77 (NGC 1068, at the bottom left) is a galaxy with an active nucleus. The supermassive black hole at its center is actively feeding. This, and other characteristics, make it a Seyfert galaxy. NGC 1055 (at the top right) is another spiral galaxy seen edge-on with a thick dust lane across its equator. NGC 1072 is the small spiral at the far left edge of the picture.
This was shot entirely from my light polluted backyard in Long Beach, CA. It is a combination of 17 5 minute RGB subframes from an Atik 314L+ with a light pollution filter and 16 5 minute H-alpha subframes from an Atik 414-EX. All shot with a Celestron Edge HD 925 at f/2.3 with Hyperstar. Preprocessing in Nebulosity, most processing in PixInsight, and a fight with some pretty bad gradients in Photoshop.
I will revisit this and take more data to try to smooth that diffuse cloud around M77.
M: iOptron EQ45-Pro
T: WO GTF81 Refractor
C: ZWO ASI1600MC-Cooled
F: IDAS LPS-D2
G: OAG and PHD2
GC: ZWO ASI120MC
RAW16; FITs
Temp: -15 DegC
Gain 250; Exp 300s
Frames: 55 Lights; 10 Darks; 10 flats; 10 DarkFlats [~4.5 Hours of Data].
60% Crop
Capture: Sharpcap
Processed: APP; PS.
Sky: No moon, breezy, no cloud, good seeing.
23.16 million light years distant.
Measuring the distance to truly remote objects like galaxies, quasars and galaxy clusters is a crucial task in astrophysics, particularly when it comes to studying the early Universe, but it’s a difficult one. Only in the case of a few nearby objects like the Sun, planets and some nearby stars can we measure their distances directly. Beyond that, various indirect methods need to be used; one of the most important is by examining Type Ia supernovae, and this is where the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope comes in.
NGC 3810, the galaxy featured in this image, was the host of a Type Ia supernova in 2022. In early 2023 Hubble focused on this and a number of other galaxies to closely examine recent Type Ia supernovae. This kind of supernova results from a white dwarf exploding, and they all have a very consistent brightness. That allows them to be used to measure distances: we know how bright a Type Ia supernova should be, so we can tell how far away it must be from how dim it appears. One uncertainty in this method is that intergalactic dust in between Earth and a supernova blocks some of its light. How do you know how much of the reduction in light is caused by distance, and how much by dust? With the help of Hubble, there’s a clever workaround: take images of the same Type Ia supernovae in ultraviolet light, which is almost completely blocked by dust, and in infrared light, which passes through dust almost unaffected. By carefully noting how much light comes through at each wavelength, the relationship between supernova brightness and distance can be calibrated to account for dust. Hubble can observe both these wavelengths of light in great detail with the same instrument. That makes it the perfect tool for this experiment, and indeed, some of the data used to make this beautiful image of NGC 3810 were focused on its 2022 supernova. You can see it as a point of light just below the galactic nucleus, or in the annotated image here.
There are many ways to measure cosmic distances; because Type Ia supernovae are so bright, they are one of the most useful and accurate tools, when they’re spotted. Many other methods must be used as well, either as an independent check against other distance measurements or to measure at much closer or farther distances. One such method that also works for galaxies is comparing their rotation speed to their brightness; based on that method, NGC 3810 is found to be 50 million light-years from Earth.
[Image Description: A spiral galaxy seen almost face-on. Large spiral arms whirl out from its centre, filling the scene. They glow faintly blue from the stars within, with some small bright patches of blue and pink marking areas of star formation. They are overlaid with thin filaments of dark reddish dust that block light. The galaxy’s centre shines brightly white.]
Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Sand, R. J. Foley; CC BY 4.0
This image of the spiral galaxy Caldwell 45 (NGC 5248) was captured by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. The bluish color swirling around the galaxy’s center indicates the presence of young, hot stars in Caldwell 45’s spiral arms.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Lee (California Institute of Technology); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
For Hubble's Caldwell catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit:
M81 & M82; are two galaxies located about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The last time we imaged these objects was over 5 years ago so they were due for a revisit. This image was made over two nights, both of which were curtailed by clouds.
Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy that harbors a 70 million solar mass black hole in its nucleus.
Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034, Cigar Galaxy, or M82) is a starburst galaxy and is about five times more luminous than the Milky Way with its central region about one hundred times more luminous.
15/05/2023
008 x 300-second exposures at Unity Gain (139) cooled to -10°C
30/05/2023
018 x 300-second exposures at Unity Gain (139) cooled to -10°C
55 x dark frames
050 x flat frames
100 x bias frames
Binning 1x1
Total integration time = 2 hours and 10 minutes
Captured with APT
Guided with PHD2
Processed in Nebulosity and Photoshop
Equipment:
Telescope: Sky-Watcher Explorer-150PDS
Mount: Skywatcher EQ5
Guide Scope: Orion 50mm Mini
Guiding Camera: Zwo ASI 120 MC and SVBONY SV105 with ZWO USBST4 guider adapter
Imaging Camera: Zwo ASI 1600MC Pro with anti-dew heater
Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector
Filter: Optolong L-Pro
🌌 M74 – The Phantom Galaxy 🔭✨
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www.instagram.com/ale_motta_astrofotografia
Behold Messier 74, a grand-design spiral galaxy located 32 million light-years away in the constellation Pisces. Its perfectly symmetric spiral arms, filled with newborn stars and glowing nebulae, make it one of the most stunning galaxies in the night sky.
📍 Constellation: Pisces ⛎
🌍 Distance: ~32 million light-years
💫 Type: Spiral Galaxy (SA(s)c)
🔭 Apparent Magnitude: 9.4
📏 Apparent Size: 10.5' × 9.5'
️ Coordinates (J2000): RA 01h 36m 41.8s | Dec +15° 47′ 01″
✨ Fun Facts:
M74 is known as the Phantom Galaxy due to its low surface brightness, making it a challenging target for amateur astronomers. 👻🔭
It harbors a supermassive black hole at its center, estimated to be 10 million times the mass of the Sun. ️💀
M74 has been home to several supernova explosions, including SN 2002ap, a rare hypernova event! 💥
A cosmic masterpiece of nature—who else finds spiral galaxies mesmerizing? 💫✨
Lights: 165x300" (LRGB)
Telescope: Officina Stellare ProRC 700
Camera: QHY 600M
Filters: LRGB Astrodon
Processed: Pixinsight
Date: 24/09/2023
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy NGC 4680.
Original caption: This image, taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), features the spiral galaxy NGC 4680. At 2 o’clock and 7 o’clock two other galaxies can be seen flanking NGC 4680. NGC 4680 enjoyed a wave of attention in 1997, as it played host to a supernova explosion known as SN 1997bp. Amazingly, the supernova was identified by an Australian amateur astronomer named Robert Evans, who has identified an extraordinary 42 supernova explosions. NGC 4680 is actually a rather tricky galaxy to classify. It is sometimes referred to as a spiral galaxy, but it is also sometimes classified as a lenticular galaxy. Lenticular galaxies fall somewhere in between spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies. Whilst NGC 4680 does have distinguishable spiral arms, they are not clearly defined, and the tip of one arm appears very diffuse. Galaxies are not static, and their morphologies (and therefore their classifications) vary throughout their lifetimes. Spiral galaxies are thought to evolve into elliptical galaxies, most likely by merging with one another, causing them to lose their distinctive spiral structures.
This Hubble Space Telescope image of the barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 4907 displays its beautiful spiral arms, wound loosely around its central bright bar of stars. Shining brightly below the galaxy is a star that is actually within our own Milky Way galaxy. This star appears much brighter than the many millions of stars in NGC 4907 as it is 100,000 times closer, residing only 2,500 light-years away. NGC 4907 is also part of the Coma Cluster, a group of over 1,000 galaxies, some of which can be seen around NGC 4907 in this image.
Credit: ESA/Hubble; NASA, M. Gregg
For more information, visit: www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw2031a/
A cropped version of M51.
The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a (M51a) or NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. It is 31 million lightyears away and 76,900 ly in diameter. Its interacting companion is NGC 5195.
The Whirlpool Galaxy has been extensively observed by professional astronomers, who study it and its pair with dwarf galaxy NGC 5195 to understand galaxy structure (particularly structure associated with the spiral arms) and galaxy interactions.
5-6/04/2025
042 x 300-second exposures at Unity Gain (139) cooled to -10°C
081 x dark frames
050 x flat frames
100 x bias/offset frames
Binning 1x1
Total integration time = 3 hours and 30 minutes
Captured with APT
Guided with PHD2
Processed in Nebulosity and Photoshop
Astrometry assistance from ASTAP
Equipment
Telescope: Sky-Watcher Explorer-150PDS
Mount: Skywatcher EQ5
Guide Scope: Orion 50mm Mini
Guiding Camera: ZWO ASI120MC
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI1600MC Pro
Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector
Light pollution filter
This sparkling spiral galaxy looks almost stretched across the sky in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Known as NGC 4100, the galaxy boasts a neat spiral structure and swirling arms speckled with the bright blue hue of newly formed stars.
Like so many of the stunning images of galaxies we enjoy today, this image was captured by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). This remarkable instrument was installed in 2002, and, with some servicing by intrepid astronauts, is still going strong.
For more information: www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-spots-stre...
Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency)
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Ho
This image, which truly is a visual treat, was captured by Webb’s NIRCam, or Near-InfraRed Camera. NIRCam makes observations in the near-infrared, which spans wavelengths of light that are just longer than optical wavelengths. Like MIRI, it is equipped with a range of filters that cover its wavelength range of 0.6 to 5 micrometres, including 29 filters specifically intended for imaging. Data collected through eight of those filters were used to complete this impressive image, which picks out light emitted from the wealth of stars that might be obscured by dust at other wavelengths. Even though stars do not emit the majority of their light in the infrared, optical light is much more vulnerable to being scattered by dust than infrared light is, and so infrared instruments like Webb can provide the best opportunities to study stars in regions (like galaxies) that might also contain large amounts of dust.
In this image, the bright red-pink spots correspond to regions rich in ionised hydrogen, which is due to the presence of newly formed stars. The diffuse gradient of blue light around the central region shows the distribution of older stars. The compact light blue regions within the red, ionised gas, mostly concentrated in the spiral arms, show the distribution of young star clusters.
[Image Description: A close-up view of a spiral galaxy. The core glows very brightly from the multitude of stars there, which are so dense they appear like noise or static. Near the edges of the image, the density of the stars notably follows the galaxy’s spiral arms. The two arms are highlighted by patchy red gas, connecting in the galactic centre. The gas is very thread-like in the centre and thicker further out along the arms.]
Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the FEAST JWST team
La galaxie du tourbillon, dans la constellation des Chiens de Chasse à 1600 mm (équivalent à 2400 mm en 24x36: 22 photos, 10 Darks, 19 Offsets ; 14 Flats. Assemblage dans IRIS et cosmétique dans Photoshop CS4. Nikon D5300 modifié astro par Eos for Astro, Skywatcher Quattro 400 (F=800mm, D=200mm) Suivi à l'aide d'une Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro. Nikon D5300 avec filtre clip in LPS-V4-N5
Paramètres: 22x 120s F/8 ISO 4000, 1600mm.
Série prise le 31.05.2019 depuis mon balcon (la cible se trouvait au dessus de la ville, ce qui générait donc une importante pollution lumineuse).
The lazily winding spiral arms of the galaxy NGC 5921 snake across this image from the Hubble Space Telescope. This galaxy lies approximately 80 million light-years from Earth, and much like our own galaxy, the Milky Way, contains a prominent bar. Roughly half of all spiral galaxies are thought to contain bars, and these bars affect their parent galaxies by fueling star formation and affecting the motion of stars and interstellar gas.
Appropriately, given NGC 5921's serpentine spiral arms, this galaxy resides in the constellation Serpens in the northern celestial hemisphere.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Walsh
Acknowledgement: R. Colombari
For more information, visit: esahubble.org/images/potw2214a/
Description: This is an image of the Needle Galaxy NGC 4565, an edge-on spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices, as developed by me from a total exposure time of 6.75 hours. Of interest is the structure in the central portion of the disk as shown in the magnification inset. In order to reduce the brightness of stellar background I applied a morphological transformation in postprocessing.
Date/Location: 14, 18 February 2023 / Washington D.C.
Equipment:
Scope: WO Zenith Star 81mm f/6.9 with WO 6AIII Flattener/Focal Reducer x0.8
OSC Camera: ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro at 100 Gain and 50 Offset
Mount: iOptron GEM28-EC
Guider: ZWO Off-Axis Guider
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 174mm mini
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Light Pollution Filter: Chroma LoGlow Broadband
Processing Software: Pixinsight
Processing Steps:
Preprocessing: I preprocessed 81x300s subs (= 6.75 hours) in Pixinsight to get an integrated image using the following steps: Image Calibration > Cosmetic Correction > Subframe Selector > Debayer > Select Reference Star and Star Align > Image Integration.
Linear Postprocessing: Rotation > Dynamic Crop > Dynamic Background Extractor (both subtraction to remove light pollution gradients and division for flat field corrections) > Background Neutralization > Color Calibration > Noise Xterminator.
Nonlinear Postprocessing: First Histogram Transformation > Local Histogram Equalization > First Curves Transformation > SCNR Noise Reduction > Second Histogram Transformation > Morphological Transformation > Second Curves Transformation > Third Histogram Transformation.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy ESO 021-G004. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: This swirling mass of celestial gas, dust, and stars is a moderately luminous spiral galaxy named ESO 021-G004, located just under 130 million light-years away. This galaxy has something known as an active galactic nucleus. While this phrase sounds complex, this simply means that astronomers measure a lot of radiation at all wavelengths coming from the centre of the galaxy. This radiation is generated by material falling inwards into the very central region of ESO 021-G004, and meeting the behemoth lurking there — a supermassive black hole. As material falls towards this black hole it is dragged into orbit as part of an accretion disc; it becomes superheated as it swirls around and around, emitting characteristic high-energy radiation until it is eventually devoured. The data comprising this image were gathered by the Wide Field Camera 3 aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
Edited European Southern Observatory image of the galaxies NGC 5426 and NGC 5427, known collectively as Arp 271. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: This image shows a pair of interacting galaxies known as Arp 271. Individually, these galaxies are named NGC 5426 and NGC 5427; both are spirals, and both are roughly the same size. Some astronomers believe that these galaxies are in the process of merging to form a single entity. This interaction will create increasing numbers of new stars over the next few million years, some of which can be seen within the “bridge” of gas connecting the two galaxies. This kind of collision and interaction might also happen to our own galaxy, the Milky Way, which is likely to collide with the neighbouring Andromeda Galaxy in about five billion years time. These galaxies lie over 120 million light years away from us, and were discovered by the German-British astronomer William Herschel in 1785. Herschel was a prolific scientist, also discovering both infrared radiation and the planet Uranus. Link: Previous release of the same galaxy pair: www.eso.org/public/images/potw1035a/
Description: This is my image of the Andromeda Galaxy M31 based on about 15 hours of total exposure time. The image identifies the two satellite galaxies M32 and M110. The angular size of M31 is a huge 178x63 arcminutes which occupies a significant portion of the APS-C sensor of my camera. Since there are also numerous background stars, finding a relatively star-free area to do a Background Neutralization is a bit of a challenge. I also found achieving a proper color balance to be another challenge. Various sources indicate the presence of an outer bluish halo encompassing the core. I tried to achieve my objective by applying a series of Curves Transformations while protecting the background with a mask. As a side note, while numerous stars are present, I decided against applying a Morphological Transformation to reduce their brightness because in doing so I detected an undesirable ringing effect. One possible solution is to apply Multiscale Linear Transform with deringing selected. However, I have not tested that option.
Date / Location: 21-23 September and 8-10 October 2022 / Washington D.C.
Equipment:
Scope: WO Zenith Star 81mm f/6.9 with WO 6AIII Flattener/Focal Reducer x0.8
OSC Camera: ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro at 100 Gain
Mount: iOptron GEM28-EC
Guide Scope: WO 50mm Uniguide Scope
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 290mm
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Light Pollution Filter: Chroma LoGlow Broadband
Processing Software: Pixinsight
Processing Steps:
Preprocessing: I preprocessed 184x300s subs (= 15.3 hours) in Pixinsight to get an integrated image using the following steps: Image Calibration > Cosmetic Correction > Subframe Selector > Debayer > Select Reference Star and Star Align > Image Integration.
Linear Postprocessing: Rotation > Dynamic Crop > Dynamic Background Extractor (subtraction to remove light pollution gradients and division for flat field corrections) > Background Neutralization > Color Calibration > Noise Xterminator.
Nonlinear Postprocessing: First Histogram Transformation > Second Histogram Transformation > First Local Histogram Equalization > Second Local Histogram Equalization First Curves Transformation > Second Curves Transformation > Third Curves Transformation > SCNR Noise Reduction.
This Hubble Space Telescope portrait shows a stunning view of the spiral galaxy NGC 4571, which lies approximately 60 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices. This constellation — whose name translates as Bernice’s Hair — was named after an Egyptian queen who lived more than 2200 years ago. As majestic as spiral galaxies like NGC 4571 are, they are far from the largest structures known to astronomers. NGC 4571 is part of the Virgo cluster, which contains more than a thousand galaxies. This cluster is in turn part of the larger Virgo supercluster, which also encompasses the Local Group which contains our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team
For more information, visit: esahubble.org/images/potw2212a/
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of Arp 298.
Original caption: This striking image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases Arp 298, a stunning pair of interacting galaxies. Arp 298 â which comprises the two galaxies NGC 7469 and IC 5283 â lies roughly 200 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. The larger of the two galaxies pictured here is the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7469, and IC 5283 is its diminutive companion. NGC 7469 is also host to an active, supermassive black hole and a bright ring of star clusters. The âArpâ in this galaxy pairâs name signifies that they are listed in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies compiled by the astronomer Halton Arp. The Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies is a roguesâ gallery of weird and wonderful galaxies containing peculiar structures, featuring galaxies exhibiting everything from segmented spiral arms to concentric rings. This interacting galaxy pair is a familiar sight for Hubble â a portrait of the merging galaxies in Arp 298 was published in 2008. This image of Arp 298 contains data from three separate Hubble proposals. By combining observations from three proposals, Arp 298 is captured in glorious detail in seven different filters from two of Hubbleâs instruments â the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys. The process of planning Hubble observations starts with a proposal â a detailed plan of what an astronomer intends to observe and their scientific motivation for doing so. Once a year, these proposals are gathered and judged in a gruelling review process which assess their scientific merit and feasibility. Fewer than 20% of the proposed observations in any given year will make it through this process and be approved, which makes observing time with Hubble highly prized indeed. This system will be one of the first galaxies observed with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope as part of the Director's Discretionary Early Release Science Programs in Summer 2022.