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Messier 81 (left) and Messier 82 (right) are a pair of interacting galaxies in the constellation Ursa Major. They are relatively close - astronomically speaking! - to our own Milky Way Galaxy, since their distance is estimated to be about 12 million light years. The two galaxies are separated by about 150,000 light years. German astronomer Johann Bode discovered them in 1774, thus M81 is also referred as Bode's galaxy and sometimes both galaxies are called Bode's Nebulae, although M82 is more often referred as the Cigar galaxy.
M81 can be seen with binoculars and small telescopes and a few observers have reported seeing it with just their naked eye under exceptional seeing conditions. With large telescopes M81 presents an exceptional sight, the "grand design" spiral arms becoming visible extending outwards from the core. Its mass has been calculated to be around 250 billion suns, while the galactic nucleus harbors a supermassive black hole with a mass of about 70 million suns.
Astronomers studying the motions of the two galaxies believe that a few hundred million years ago, a close encounter took place between the two galaxies. As a result, tidal forces have deformed the shape of M82 and triggered massive star formation, so M82 is classified as a prototype starburst galaxy. Photographs of M82 taken with large telescopes reveal a bipolar outflow of material emanating from the core of the galaxy, where the rate of star formation has increased ten-fold compared to "normal" galaxies.
M81 and M82 are part of the Messier 81 galaxy group, one of the nearest galaxy groups to our Local Group. Up to now 34 galaxies have been identified as members of this group, including M81, M82 and NGC 3077, the small galaxy seen at upper left. Our Local Group of galaxies (with the Milky Way and Andromeda as the largest members) and the M81 group are in turn members of a larger group, called the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies.
Thanks to all for looking - clear skies!
Image Details:
Telescope: Orion EON ED 80/500 refractor
Mount: Modified Vixen Sphinx (NexSXW)
Camera: Canon EOS 20Da
Light frames: 11 x 2 mins (total: 22 mins), ISO 1600, Daylight WB
Guiding: Skywatcher 80/400 refractor, Skywatcher Synguider autoguider
Date & Location: 2/5/2019 - Chalkidiki, Greece
Processing: DSS 4.1.1, Adobe Photoshop CS6 with Astronomy Tools Actions Set (spikes added to brightest stars)
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Here's a part of the Virgo Cluster it's pretty mind blowing at how many Galaxies are within this image
The Virgo Cluster is a large cluster of galaxies. Comprising approximately 1300 (and possibly up to 2000) member galaxies, the cluster forms the heart of the larger Virgo Supercluster, of which the Local Group (containing our Milky Way galaxy) is a member. The Local Group actually experiences the mass of the Virgo Supercluster as the Virgocentric flow.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain www.pixelskiesastro.com
Lum 36 x 600s
Red 157 x 180s
Green 125 x 180s
Blue 110 x 180s
25 Hours 36 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum, Red, Green, Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
Clear skies but with some annoying high cloud at times allowed me to image for the first time the Leo I Galaxy Group. This is a widefield view.
Unfortunately I lost 40 subs due to a guiding failure - which I was blissfully(!) unaware off...So this is the result of what was viable!
I managed to squeeze the cluster into the field of my scope which was operating at F7. So a nice collection of "faint fuzzies!"
The Leo I Group sometimes known as the M96 group is a cluster of galaxies in the constellation of Leo. The group contains between 8 & 24 galaxies (quite a wide band!!) including the 3 Messier objects imaged here.
The group lies within the Virgo supercluster and lies near the much more famous Leo Triplet cluster.
The image shows M96 (top left), M95 (bottom left corner) with NGC 3384 (rightmost) and M105 to its bottom left.
Another blue coloured galaxy, NGC 3489, is visible top right.
M96 is an intermediate spiral system and lies 31 million light-years distant.
M95 is a barred spiral galaxy and lies around 33 million light-years from us.
M105 (38 million light-years distant) and NGC 3384 (around 35 million light-years) are both elliptical galaxies.
NGC 3489 is a lenticular galaxy system and lies at a distance of around 30 million light-years.
Imaged with my Esprit 120ED with field flattener at F7. I used my ZWO 2600MC camera.
92 x 200s Total 5.1Hrs Total
Camera @-10°C Gain 100
Calibrated with Temp. matched Darks, Flats & Dark Flats.
Completed using APP and Photoshop 2022.
Thanks for looking!
Messier 81 (M81) is a large spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. It is referred to as Bode’s Galaxy as it was first discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1774 and later picked up by Messier and added to his catalog. The magnitude is listed at a bright 6.9 and the distance is about 11,800,000 light-years away from Earth.
Messier 81 is the largest galaxy in the M81 Group, a group of 34 galaxies located in the constellation Ursa Major. At approximately 11.8 million light years from the Earth, it makes this group and the Local Group, containing the Milky Way, relative neighbors in the Virgo Supercluster. (Wikipedia)
Tech Specs: Orion 8" f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph Telescope, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO ASI290MC and ASI071MC-Pro, ZWO AAPlus, ZWO EAF. 108x 60 seconds at -10C plus darks and flats. Image Date: November 6, 2021. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
Centaurus A, also known as NGC 5128, is a peculiar lenticular galaxy in the constellation Centaurus, which appears to be an elliptical galaxy with a huge superimposed dust lane. It is one of the closest radio galaxies, and its active galactic nucleus has been extensively studied.
Discovery and Identity
NGC 5128 was discovered by James Dunlop on August 4, 1826. John Herschel was next to see it, from South Africa in 1834; he cataloged it as h 3501, which became GC 3525 in his General Catalogue of 1864, and NGC 5128 in J. L. E. Dreyer's New General Catalog. Herschel was first to note this galaxy's peculiarity, in 1847.
Halton Arp included NGC 5128 in his 1966 Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies as one of the best examples of a "disturbed" galaxy with dust absorption.
Amateur Observation
Centaurus A appears approximately 4° north of the naked-eye globular cluster Omega Centauri. At magnitude 7.0, this galaxy is the fifth brightest in the sky, making it ideal for observation, although it is only visible from the southern hemisphere and low northern latitudes. Centaurus A has been spotted with the naked eye by expert observers under very good conditions. The bright central bulge and dark dust lane are visible in finderscopes and large binoculars, and additional structure may be seen in larger telescopes.
NGC 5128 is a "lenticular" galaxy, of intermediate type between elliptical and disk (spiral) galaxies. Its main body has all characteristics of a large elliptical, but a pronounced dust belt is superimposed over the center, forming a disk plane around this galaxy.
The only supernova discovered in Centaurus A so far is SN 1986G, a Type Ia event that reached mag 12.5 in May, 1986.
Properties and Evolution
Centaurus A is located about 11 million light-years away, at the center of one of two subgroups within the Centaurus A/M83 Group. Messier 83 (the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy) is at the center of the other subgroup. These two groups are sometimes identified as one, since the galaxies around Centaurus A and the galaxies around M 83 are physically close to each other, and both subgroups appear to be stationary relative to each other. The Centaurus A/M83 Group is part of the Virgo Supercluster.
NGC 5128's strange morphology is the result of a merger between two smaller galaxies. The bulge of Centaurus A is comprised mainly of evolved red stars. Its dusty disk, however, has been the site of more recent star formation; over 100 star formation regions have been identified in the disk. As observed in other such "starburst" galaxies, a collision is responsible for the intense star formation. Scientists using the Spitzer Space Telescope have confirmed that Centaurus A is an elliptical galaxy going through a collision, devouring a spiral.
In the radio part of the spectrum, Centaurus A exhibits two vast regions of radio emission, running along the polar axis of NGC 5128's disk and extending hundreds of light years in both directions. A relativistic jet from what is believed to be a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy is responsible for emissions in the X-ray and radio wavelengths. Radio observations of the jet indicate that the inner parts of the jet are moving at about 1/2 the speed of light. X-rays are produced farther out, as the jet collides with surrounding gases, creating highly energetic particles.
Source: skysafari
RA: 13h 25m 27;8s
DEC: -43° 01’ 04"
Size: 28.9 x 28.9 arcmin
Orientation: Up is 0.397 degrees E of N
Location: Centaurus
Distance: 10-16 Mly
Magnitude: 6.8
Acquisition April 2021
Total acquisition time of 2.5 hours.
Technical Details
Data acquisition: Telescope.Live
Processing: Nicolas ROLLAND
Location: El Sauce Observatory, Rio Hurtado, Chile
L 6 x 600 sec
R 3 x 600 sec
G 3 x 600 sec
B 3 x 600 sec
Optics: Planewave 24“ CDK @ F6.8
Mount: Paramount ME
CCD: FLI PL 9000
Pre Processing: CCDstack, Pixinsight & Excalibrator
Post Processing: Photoshop CC
A chain of galaxies, known as Markarian's Chain, part of the Virgo supercluster, seen over Mt. Lassen, a volcano in California that last erupted in 1914-1917.
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NGC 6744 is classified as an intermediate spiral galaxy and has a similar structure to the Milky Way. It’s located in the southern constellation Pavo at a distance of about 30 million light-years. The low surface brightness of this galaxy requires long exposures to reveal the wonderful structures near the core and along its arms. The similarities with our own galaxy include the elongated core, flocculent (fluffy) arms, and a similar companion galaxy NGC 6744A, similar to one of the Magellanic Clouds in our own galaxy. The arm on the top left is most likely distorted by this companion galaxy. NGC 6744 is a member of the Virgo Supercluster.
This image was created from exposures taken through five different filters. The RGB component was used to create the base colour layers. Details of the galaxy and its core were revealed with the luminance filter. Finally, Ha highlights the presence of emission nebula throughout the galaxy.
Even after their long journey, the photons captured have revealed a beautiful galaxy with integrate structures near its core as they were some 30 million years ago in the past. This is perhaps the main reason why I enjoy this hobby so much. To be in a position where I can take incredible images from objects so far away. The time taken for light to reach us is almost unimaginable. It's really nice to have my own time machine that allows observing objects as they were millions of years ago.
Equipment Details:
•10 Inch RCOS fl 9.1
•Astro Physics AP-900 Mount
•SBIG STL 11000m
•FLI Filter Wheel
•Astrodon LRGB Filters
•Baader Planetarium H-alpha 7nm Narrowband-Filter
Exposure Details:
•Red 15X600
•Green 18X600
•Blue 23X600
•Lum 47X900
•Ha 41X1200
Total time: 33.4 hours
Thanks for looking
Messier 94 (also known as NGC 4736) is a spiral galaxy in the mid-northern constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781, and catalogued by Charles Messier two days later. The galaxy has two ring structures. There is an inner ring about 5400 light years in diameter and an outer ring nearly 10 times that! Distance from Earth is around 16 million light years.
The inner ring is the site of strong star formation activity and is sometimes referred to as a starburst ring. This star formation is fueled by gas driven dynamically into the ring by the inner oval-shaped structure. The outer ring is not closed as was thought for many years until a study in 2009 confirmed that the outer ring is a complex structure of spiral arms when viewed in mid-infrared and ultraviolet. The study found that the outer disk of this galaxy is very active and contains close to 1/4 of the galaxy's total stellar mass and contributes about 10% of the galaxy's new stars.
Some of the outer spiral arm structure is evident in this image.
M94 is one of the brightest galaxies within the M94 Group, a group of galaxies that contains between 16 and 24 galaxies. Several of these can be seen scattered in this image.
This group is one of many that lie within the Virgo Supercluster (i.e. the Local Supercluster).
Capture info:
Location: SkyPi Remote Observatory, Pie Town NM US
Telescope: RiDK 400mm
Mount: Paramount MEII
Camera: SBIG STX 16803
Data: LRGB 10,8.5,6,7.25 hours respectively
Processing: Pixinsight
M86 lies in the heart of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.
The Virgo Cluster is a cluster of galaxies whose center is 53.8 ± 0.3 Million light years away in the constellation Virgo. Comprising approximately 1300 (and possibly up to 2000) member galaxies, the cluster forms the heart of the larger Virgo Supercluster, of which the Local Group (containing our Milky Way galaxy) is a member.
On my picture you could see M86 as the largest galaxy but you could observe more than a hundred galaxies more, on the annotated version you could find all the information (please, see comments).
Technical card
Imaging telescope or lens:Teleskop Service TS Photoline 107mm f/6.5 Super-Apo
Imaging camera:ZWO ASI183MM-Cool
Mount:Skywatcher AZ EQ-6 GT
Guiding telescope or lens:Teleskop Service TSOAG9 Off-Axis Guider
Guiding camera:ZWO ASI290 Mini
Focal reducer:Telescope-Service TS 2" Flattener
Software:Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight , Seqence Generator Pro
Filters:Optolong Green 36mm , Optolong Blue 36mm , Optolong Red 36mm , Optolong Lum 36mm
Accessories:ZWO EFW , TALON6 R.O.R , MoonLite CSL 2.5" Focuser with High Res Stepper Motor
Dates:Jan. 29, 2020 , Feb. 2, 2020 , Feb. 19, 2020 , Feb. 20, 2020
Frames:
Optolong Blue 36mm: 70x120" (gain: 183.00) -15C bin 1x1
Optolong Green 36mm: 70x120" (gain: 183.00) -15C bin 1x1
Astrodon L Gen.2 E-series 36mm: 307x120" (gain: 183.00) -15C bin 1x1
Optolong Red 36mm: 70x120" (gain: 183.00) -15C bin 1x1
Integration: 17.2 hours
Avg. Moon age: 16.07 days
Avg. Moon phase: 24.47%
Astrometry.net job: 3343099
RA center: 12h 26' 44"
DEC center: +12° 49' 30"
Pixel scale: 2.090 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: 83.513 degrees
Field radius: 0.639 degrees
Resolution: 2716x1836
Locations: AAS Montsec, Àger, Lleida, Spain
Data source: Own remote observatory
Remote source: Non-commercial independent facility
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
A wide-field view of the Fornax Cluster, a cluster of Galaxies 62 million light-years from Earth. It is the second richest Galaxy cluster within 100 million light-years, after the considerably larger Virgo Cluster. It lies primarily in the Southern constellation Fornax, with its boundaries partially crossing into the constellation of Eridanus. The Galaxy Cluster covers an area of sky about 6° of arc across (and is a part of larger Fornax Wall).
NGC 1365 is the prominent Galaxy on the right, also known as "The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy", and on the left of the image NGC 1399 is the large Elliptical Galaxy.
A few quotes:
"There is an odd mannequin shape that is presented by the distribution of galaxies. This work has been done mainly by Margaret Geller with her collaborator John Huchra at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution. It's a little like soap bubbles in a bathtub or dishwashing detergent. The galaxies are on the surfaces of the bubbles. The insides of the bubbles seem to have no galaxies in them at all." - Carl Sagan - Cosmos - The Edge of Forever (S01E10).
The size and age of the cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home, the Earth." - Carl Sagan - Cosmos - The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean (S01E01).
About this image:
Imaged in LRGB over several sessions in October 2019 from the Southern Hemisphere.
Image Acquisition & Plate Solving:
SGP Mosaic and Framing Wizard.
PlaneWave PlateSolve 2 via SGP.
Integration time:
22 hours.
Processing:
Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight,
and finished in Photoshop.
Astrometry info:
Center RA, Dec: 53.874, -35.727
Center RA, hms: 03h 35m 29.728s
Center Dec, dms: -35° 43' 37.706"
Size: 90.9 x 58.9 arcmin.
Radius: 0.903 deg.
Pixel scale: 3.41 arcsec/pixel.
Orientation: Up is 44.4 degrees E of N.
View an Aannotated Sky Chart for this image.
View this image in the WorldWideTelescope.
&creditsUrl=&ra=53.514137&dec=-35.757465&x=1043.1&y=711.1&rotation=135.65&thumb=http://nova.astrometry.net/image/7225988){kind=link}
Also see:
The Markarian's Chain of Galaxies.
This image is part of the Legacy Series.
Photo usage and Copyright:
Medium-resolution photograph licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Terms (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For High-resolution Royalty Free (RF) licensing, contact me via my site: Contact.
Martin
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M98 M99 and M100
Located in the Virgo cluster, M98 M99 and M100 are three galaxies identified in Charles Messier's catalog of of deep-sky objects. This cluster is part of the larger Virgo Supercluster to which the Milky Way galaxy is part of.
Distances to these three objects range from 41-52 million light-years. The above image is roughly 2.7 degrees wide - about 5.5 full moons. At least 10 other NGC and IC galaxies are also visible.
Markarian's Chain is also part of the Virgo cluster.
D5500
Nikon 300mm f/4.5 ED MF @f5.6
90x30s, 3200iso
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Regim sig18 stack (darks and flats)
Processed in Affinity Photo
RG_M98-100_Sig18_AP2_c50r90q
This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image spotlights the giant elliptical galaxy, UGC 10143, at the heart of galaxy cluster, Abell 2147, about 486 million light-years away in the head of the serpent, the constellation Serpens. UGC 10143 is the biggest and brightest member of Abell 2147, which itself may be part of the much larger Hercules Supercluster of galaxies. UGC 10143’s bright center, dim extended halo, and lack of spiral arms and star-forming dust lanes distinguish it as an elliptical galaxy. Ellipticals are often near the center of galaxy clusters, suggesting they may form when galaxies merge.
This image of UGC 10143 is part of a Hubble survey of globular star clusters associated with the brightest galaxies in galaxy clusters. Globular star clusters help astronomers trace the origin and evolution of their galactic neighbors. The Hubble survey looked at the distribution, brightness, and metal content of more than 35,000 globular star clusters.
The image uses data from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Any gaps were filled by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 and the Pan-STARRS collaboration. The color blue represents visible blue light, and reddish-orange represents near infrared light.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, and W. Harris (McMaster University); Image processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America)
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #astrophysics #gsfc #galaxy #galaxycluster
This cosmic portrait – captured with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 – 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 2,200 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 containing our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
This image comes from a large program of observations designed to produce a treasure trove of combined observations from two great observatories: Hubble and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). ALMA is a vast telescope consisting of 66 high-precision antennas high in the Chilean Andes, which together observe at wavelengths between infrared and radio waves. This allows ALMA to detect the clouds of cool interstellar dust which give rise to new stars. Hubble’s razor-sharp observations at ultraviolet wavelengths, meanwhile, allow astronomers to pinpoint the location of hot, luminous, newly formed stars. Together, the ALMA and Hubble observations provide a vital repository of data to astronomers studying star formation, as well as laying the groundwork for future science with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team
#NASA #NASAMarshall #Hubble #nebula #galaxy
Two things capture your attention in this spectacular Picture of the Week, which was taken using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3): the two enormous galaxies that flank the left and right sides of the image. The galaxy on the left is a lenticular galaxy, which rejoices in the name of 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.
Perseus is an important figure in Greek mythology, renowned for slaying Medusa the Gorgon — who is herself famous for the unhappy reason that she was cursed to have living snakes for hair. Given Perseus’s impressive credentials, it seems appropriate that the eponymous galaxy 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 the WFC3’s powerful resolution and high sensitivity. The WFC3 is sensitive to both visible and infrared light, so those are the wavelengths that are captured in this image. The Perseus supercluster looks very different at other wavelengths. Whilst in this image the spaces between the galaxies appear dark and peaceful, when the X-ray emission is observed the Perseus cluster appears to be burning with bright intense light.
Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Harris; CC BY 4.0
Acknowledgement: L. Shatz
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Perhaps my favorite ever astro image! There's something about the view of a side-on galaxy done right - I think it portrays the vastness of these objects so well. Anyway, another excellent result using the Celestron Starsense Autoguider. Very accurate tracking with the 8" SCT, and now almost too easy to use. I love the detail in the central dust lane here (enhanced a little by the BlurXTerminator app in PixInsight).
NGC 891 is an edge-on unbarred spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by William Herschel on October 6, 1784. The galaxy is a member of the NGC 1023 group of galaxies in the Local Supercluster. It has an H II nucleus.
Image Details:
- Imaging Scope: Celestron C8 SCT
- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with ZWO IR cut filter
- Guider: Celestron Starsense Autoguider
- Mount: Celestron CGEM
- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap
- Guiding Software: Celestron
- Capture Software: SharpCap Pro (LiveStack mode with dithering)
- Light Frames: 30*4 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C
- Dark Frames: 30*4 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom, and Topaz Denoise AI
Messier 106 is a Seyfert II galaxy 25 million light years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is a member of the Canes II group of galaxies, which is part of the Local Supercluster. This image was taken from my home observatory in Missouri.
Details:
24 x 480s, ISO 800
50 flats, 75 darks, 300 bias
Equipment: Canon 450D (full- spectrum modified), Explore Scientific 80mm APO Triplets @ 384mm, Televue 0.8x Reducer, Orion Atlas EQ-G
Software: Backyard EOS, PHD Guiding, Astrotortilla, EQMOD
Processed in Pixinsight
Galaxies may seem lonely, floating alone in the vast, inky blackness of the sparsely populated cosmos — but looks can be deceiving. The subject of this Picture of the Week, NGC 1706, is a good example of this. NGC 1706 is a spiral galaxy, about 230 million light-years away, in the constellation of Dorado (The Swordfish).
NGC 1706 is known to belong to something known as a galaxy group, which is just as the name suggests — a group of up to 50 galaxies which are gravitationally bound and hence relatively close to each other. Around half of the galaxies we know of in the Universe belong to some kind of group, making them incredibly common cosmic structures. Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, belongs to the Local Group, which also contains the Andromeda Galaxy, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, and the Triangulum Galaxy.
Groups are the smallest of galactic gatherings; others are clusters, which can comprise hundreds of thousands of galaxies bound loosely together by gravity, and subsequent superclusters, which bring together numerous clusters into a single entity.
Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Bellini et al.; CC BY 4.0
Though it resembles a peaceful rose swirling in the darkness of the cosmos, NGC 3256 is actually the site of a violent clash. This distorted galaxy is the relic of a collision between two spiral galaxies, estimated to have occurred 500 million years ago. Today it is still reeling in the aftermath of this event.
Located about 100 million light-years away in the constellation of Vela (The Sails), NGC 3256 is approximately the same size as our Milky Way and belongs to the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster. It still bears the marks of its tumultuous past in the extended luminous tails that sprawl out around the galaxy, thought to have formed 500 million years ago during the initial encounter between the two galaxies, which today form NGC 3256. These tails are studded with young blue stars, which were born in the frantic but fertile collision of gas and dust.
When two galaxies merge, individual stars rarely collide because they are separated by such enormous distances, but the gas and dust of the galaxies do interact — with spectacular results. The brightness blooming in the center of NGC 3256 gives away its status as a powerful starburst galaxy, host to vast amounts of infant stars born into groups and clusters. These stars shine most brightly in the far infrared, making NGC 3256 exceedingly luminous in this wavelength domain. Because of this radiation, it is classified as a Luminous Infrared Galaxy.
Credit: NASA/ESA
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This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image showcases the remarkable galaxy UGC 12591. UGC 12591 sits somewhere between a lenticular and a spiral. It lies just under 400 million light-years away from us in the westernmost region of the Pisces–Perseus Supercluster, a long chain of galaxy clusters that stretches out for hundreds of millions of light-years — one of the largest known structures in the cosmos.
The galaxy itself is also extraordinary: it is incredibly massive. The galaxy and its halo together contain several hundred billion times the mass of the sun; four times the mass of the Milky Way. It also whirls round extremely quickly, rotating at speeds of up to 1.8 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) per hour.
Observations with Hubble are helping astronomers to understand the mass of UGC 12591, and to determine whether the galaxy simply formed and grew slowly over time, or whether it might have grown unusually massive by colliding and merging with another large galaxy at some point in its past.
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
This cosmic portrait — captured with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 — 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. Even larger than superclusters are galaxy filaments — the largest known structures in the Universe.
This image comes from a large programme of observations designed to produce a treasure trove of combined observations from two great observatories: Hubble and ALMA. ALMA, The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, is a vast telescope consisting of 66 high-precision antennas high in the Chilean Andes, which together observe at wavelengths between infrared and radio waves. This allows ALMA to detect the clouds of cool interstellar dust which give rise to new stars. Hubble’s razor-sharp observations at ultraviolet wavelengths, meanwhile, allows astronomers to pinpoint the location of hot, luminous, newly formed stars. Together, the ALMA and Hubble observations provide a vital repository of data to astronomers studying star formation, as well as laying the groundwork for future science with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.
Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team; CC BY 4.0
The fuzzy objects in this image are all galaxies.
This stretched region of galaxies is named Markarian's Chain. It is part of the Virgo Cluster which itself is a part of the Virgo Supercluster. Our Milky Way belongs to the so called Local Group which is also part of the Virgo Supercluster. So these galaxies are kind of our neighbors if you will.
Overall integration time in this image is 53x120 seconds totalling in 1h 46m exposure time. Shot with my little 72/432mm refractor and a OSC (IMX571).
I submitted this to Astrometry.net in order to get it annotated here in flickr.
The Sombrero Galaxy (also known as Messier Object 104, M104 or NGC 4594) is a peculiar galaxy of unclear classification in the constellation borders of Virgo and Corvus, being about 9.55 megaparsecs (31.1 million light-years) from the Milky Way galaxy. It is a member of the Virgo II Groups, a series of galaxies and galaxy clusters strung out from the southern edge of the Virgo Supercluster. It has an isophotal diameter of approximately 29.09 to 32.32 kiloparsecs (94,900 to 105,000 light-years), making it slightly bigger in size than the Milky Way.
It has a bright nucleus, an unusually large central bulge, and a prominent dust lane in its outer disk, which from Earth is viewed almost edge-on. The dark dust lane and the bulge give it the appearance of a sombrero hat (thus the name). Astronomers initially thought the halo was small and light, indicative of a spiral galaxy; but the Spitzer Space Telescope found that the halo was significantly larger and more massive than previously thought, indicative of a giant elliptical galaxy.
The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of +8.0, making it easily visible with amateur telescopes, and is considered by some authors to be the galaxy with the highest absolute magnitude within a radius of 10 megaparsecs of the Milky Way. Its large bulge, central supermassive black hole, and dust lane all attract the attention of professional astronomers.
As noted above, this galaxy's most striking feature is the dust lane that crosses in front of the bulge of the galaxy. This dust lane is actually a symmetrical ring that encloses the bulge of the galaxy. Most of the cold atomic hydrogen gas and the dust lie within this ring. The ring might also contain most of the Sombrero Galaxy's cold molecular gas, although this is an inference based on observations with low resolution and weak detections. Additional observations are needed to confirm that the Sombrero galaxy's molecular gas is constrained to the ring. Based on infrared spectroscopy, the dust ring is the primary site of star formation within this galaxy.
The nucleus of the Sombrero Galaxy is classified as a low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER). These are nuclear regions where ionized gas is present, but the ions are only weakly ionized (i.e. the atoms are missing relatively few electrons). The source of energy for ionizing the gas in LINERs has been debated extensively. Some LINER nuclei may be powered by hot, young stars found in star formation regions, whereas other LINER nuclei may be powered by active galactic nuclei (highly energetic regions that contain supermassive black holes). Infrared spectroscopy observations have demonstrated that the nucleus of the Sombrero Galaxy is probably devoid of any significant star formation activity. However, a supermassive black hole has been identified in the nucleus (as discussed in the subsection below), so this active galactic nucleus is probably the energy source that weakly ionizes the gas in the Sombrero Galaxy.
[text from wikipedia]
Long: 07 41 40 E Lat: 45 28 18 N
Camera: ASI 6200 MMPro
Telescope: GSO 10” Truss
Mount: Astro Physics 1100GTO
Filters: Astrodon Gen2 LRGB
Luminance: 38x300sec
RGB: 10x420sec each
Pixinsight, Photoshop
I think this is a great field to explore. Spread throughout the frame, you can see many galaxies. Almost all of those small brown funky-shaped smudges are galaxies. There are hundreds, how cool is that? The galaxy in the centre is NGC 7431. A barred spiral galaxy some 65 million years away near the Virgo supercluster. The colours come through fairly well showing the lovely blues where young stars are present in the arms. This galaxy is similar in size, but just a little smaller than our own galaxy, The Milky Way.
This galaxy shares a characteristic of many in the Virgo cluster. The tugging of gravitational forces with nearby galaxies has resulted in the distorted arms seen here. These forces can result in magnificently shaped galaxies, to some peculiarly shaped objects.
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
Exposure Details:
Red 20X600 Bin1
Green 12X600 Bin1
Blue 18X600 Bin1
Lum 48X600 Bin1
Total Exposure: 16.33 Hours
Thanks for looking…
Link to higher resolution: live.staticflickr.com/65535/53023373156_776f33abac_o.jpg
NGC 6946, sometimes referred to as the Fireworks Galaxy, is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years , similar to the distance of M101 (NGC 5457) in the constellation Ursa Major. Both were once considered to be part of the Local Group , but are now known to be among the dozen bright spiral galaxies near the Milky Way but beyond the confines of the Local Group. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.
Discovered by William Herschel on 9 September 1798, this well-studied galaxy has a diameter of approximately 40,000 light-years, about one-third of the Milky Way's size, and it contains roughly half the number of stars as the Milky Way. It is heavily obscured by interstellar matter due to its location close to the galactic plane of the Milky Way. Due to its prodigious star formation it has been classified as an active starburst galaxy. (Courtesy Wikipedia)
An H II region or HII region is a region of interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized. It is typically a cloud in a molecular cloud of partially ionized gas in which star formation has recently taken place. These can be seen in distant spiral galaxies as red-pink star-like “knots” in the spiral arms, several of which are evident in this image.
Capture info:
Location: Orion’s Belt Remote Observatory, Mayhill NM
Telescope: Officina Stellare RiDK 400mm
Camera: SBIG STX 16803
Mount: Paramount MEII
Data: LRGB HA 5,6,4, 5,5 hours respectively
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8.8-11
An old photo that finally made it off my pc.
The Milky Way from Ai-Ais, situated on the Namibian side of the Richtersveld Transfrontier Park (an UNESCO World Heritage Site).
A lonely Quiver tree guards over the stark ancient volcanic Desert landscape. This is close to the Southern most point of the Fish River Canyon, and volcanic rock and Rose Quartz can be seen everywhere.
Ai-Ais means "burning water" in the local Nama language, and is a fitting description of the area due to the hot springs.
This was one of my first Astro-images. View my Astrophotography Gallery, with a collection new and old images.
Martin
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Messier 81 (M81) is a large spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. It is referred to as Bode’s Galaxy as it was first discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1774 and later picked up by Messier and added to his catalog. The magnitude is listed at a bright 6.9 and the distance is about 11,800,000 light-years away from Earth.
Messier 81 is the largest galaxy in the M81 Group, a group of 34 galaxies located in the constellation Ursa Major. At approximately 11.8 million light years from the Earth, it makes this group and the Local Group, containing the Milky Way, relative neighbors in the Virgo Supercluster. (Wikipedia)
Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90, Canon 6D camera, Canon 6D, 114 x 60 second exposures, guided using a ZWO ASI290MC and Orion 60mm guide scope. Captured using BYE. Image date: February 19, 2020 and March 12, 2019. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.
Every now and then, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope glimpses a common object — say, a spiral galaxy — in an interesting or unusual way. A sharply angled perspective, such as the one shown in this Hubble image, can make it seem as if we, the viewers, are craning our necks to see over a barrier into the galaxy's bright center.
In the case of NGC 3169, this barrier is the thick dust embedded within the galaxy's spiral arms. Cosmic dust comprises a potpourri of particles, including water ice, hydrocarbons, silicates and other solid material. It has many origins and sources, from the leftovers of star and planet formation to molecules modified over millions of years by interactions with starlight.
NGC 3169 is located about 70 million light-years away in the constellation of Sextans (the Sextant). It is part of the Leo I Group of galaxies, which, like the Local Group that houses our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is part of a larger galactic congregation known as the Virgo Supercluster.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Ho
⭐ Credit ⭐
[Simple Bloom] - [SB] *EvoX AVALON* MsShields Left-Symm DIAMOND Eyebrow
Cazimi - Supercluster Lashes - Shiny Shabby (July 20th to August 15th)
-[ Vagrant ]- - Rylee Shades
Taox Tattoo - NECK NO RULES - Vanity Event
NEW ATTITUDE
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When massive stars die at the end of their short lives, they light up the cosmos with bright, explosive bursts of light and material known as supernovae. A supernova event is incredibly energetic and intensely luminous — so much so that it forms what looks like an especially bright new star that slowly fades away over time.
These exploding stars glow so incredibly brightly when they first form that they can be spotted from afar using telescopes such as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The subject of this image, a spiral galaxy named NGC 4051 — about 45 million light-years from Earth — has hosted multiple supernovae in past years. The first was spotted in 1983 (SN 1983I), the second in 2003 (SN 2003ie), and the most recent in 2010 (SN 2010br). These explosive events were seen scattered throughout the center and spiral arms of NGC 4051.
SN 1983I and SN 2010br were both categorized as Type Ic supernovae. This type of supernova is produced by the core collapse of a massive star that has lost its outer layer of hydrogen and helium, either via winds or by mass transfer to a companion star. Because of this, Type Ic — and also Type Ib — supernovae are sometimes referred to as stripped core-collapse supernovae.
NGC 4501 sits in the southern part of a cluster of galaxies known as the Ursa Major I Cluster. This cluster is especially rich in spirals such as NGC 4051, and is a subset of the larger Virgo Supercluster, which also houses the Milky Way.
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Crenshaw and O. Fox
I have had this on my Hard drive for some time now but was never happy with the outcome of the processing so now we are in lockdown it seemed a good time for a revisit. I spent the whole day and started from the beginning I'm now very happy with how it turned out.
Lum 19x900Secs
Red 15x900Secs
Green 11x900Secs
Blue 14x900Secs
Ha 22x1800Secs
22 hours 5 mins in total.
NGC 6946 also known as the Fireworks Galaxy is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.
Discovered by William Herschel on 9 September 1798, this well-studied galaxy has a diameter of approximately 40,000 light-years about one-third of the Milky Way's size, and it contains roughly half the number of stars as the Milky Way. The galaxy is heavily obscured by interstellar matter as it lies quite close to the galactic plane of the Milky Way. Due to its prodigious star formation, it has been classified as an active starburst galaxy.
Various unusual celestial objects have been observed within NGC 6964. This includes the so-called 'Red Ellipse' along one of the northern arms that looks like a super-bubble or very large supernova remnant, and which may have been formed by an open cluster containing massive stars. There are also two regions of unusual dark lanes of nebulosity, while within the spiral arms several regions appear devoid of stars and gaseous hydrogen, some spanning up to two kiloparsecs across. A third peculiar object, discovered in 1967, is now known as "Hodge's Complex". This was once thought to be a young supergiant cluster, but in 2017 it was conjectured to be an interacting dwarf galaxy superimposed on NGC 6964.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain www.pixelskiesastro.com
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik L
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
The Antlia Cluster (or Abell S0636) is a cluster of galaxies located in the Hydra-
Centaurus Supercluster. The Antlia Cluster is the third nearest to our Local Group after
the Virgo Cluster and Fornax Cluster.
The Cluster is split into two groups, The Northern subgroup gravitating around NGC 3268,
(near the centre on my image) and the Southern subgroup centered on NGC 3258 (at the
bottom right of my image).
Taken with my C8 at f/7.5 on my CGEM mount
Camera: QHY8L 21*10min (3.5h)
Guiding with Lodestar and self made OAG
Capture & guiding soft Maxim DL
Processing Soft PixInsigth.
Date: 28/02/2014 at Cajon Del Maipo (~50Km from Santiago de Chile).
When massive stars die at the end of their short lives, they light up the cosmos with bright, explosive bursts of light and material known as supernovae. A supernova event is incredibly energetic and intensely luminous — so much so that it forms what looks like an especially bright new star that slowly fades away over time.
These exploding stars glow so incredibly brightly when they first form that they can be spotted from afar using telescopes such as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The subject of this image, a spiral galaxy named NGC 4051 — about 45 million light-years from Earth — has hosted multiple supernovae in past years. The first was spotted in 1983 (SN 1983I), the second in 2003 (SN 2003ie), and the most recent in 2010 (SN 2010br). These explosive events were seen scattered throughout the centre and spiral arms of NGC 4051.
The SN 1983I and SN 2010br were both categorised as supernovae of type Ic. This type of supernova is produced by the core collapse of a massive star that has lost its outer layer of hydrogen and helium, either via winds or by mass transfer to a companion. Because of this, type Ic — and also type Ib — supernovae are sometimes referred to as stripped core-collapse supernovae.
This galaxy’s beautiful spiral structure can be seen well in this image, along with other intriguing objects (including an emission-line galaxy known as SDSS J120312.35+443045.1, visible as the bright smudge to the lower middle of the image, beneath the sweeping arm of NGC 4051).NGC 4501 sits in the southern part of a cluster of galaxies known as the Ursa Major I Cluster; this cluster is especially rich in spirals such as NGC 4051, and is a subset of the larger Virgo Supercluster, which also houses the Milky Way.
Credits: ESA/Hubble, NASA, D. Crenshaw and O. Fox; CC BY 4.0
Messier 91 (also known as NGC 4548 or M91) is a barred spiral galaxy that is found in the south of the constellation Coma Berenices. It is in the local supercluster and is part of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. It is about 63 million light-years away from our galaxy.
Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO ASI071mc-Pro, Antares Focal Reducer, 54 x 60 second at -10C, 30 darks and 30 flats, guided using a ZWO ASI290MC and Orion 60mm guide scope. Captured using Sequence Generator Pro and processed using PixInsight. Image date: March 19, 2021. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
M81-M82
Hi folks, Professor Clancy here to explain in some detail this photo Dad took a couple of years ago of Messier objects M81 (right) and M82 (Charles Messier was a French astronomer who published a catalogue of 110 nebulae and star clusters in 1781. He also discovered 13 comets.)
M81 and M82 galaxies are part of the M81 Group, a group of 34 galaxies in Ursa Major and Camelopardalis constellations. Due to their distance of approximately 12M light years from Earth, this group, together with the Local Group (containing the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy) are relative neighbors in the Virgo Supercluster. This Supercluster contains about 100 galaxy groups and clusters, and is one of about 10 million superclusters in the observable universe.
M81 is the largest (spiral) galaxy in the M81 Group and contains about 250 billion stars, roughly the same as our Milky Way, though it is estimated to be slightly smaller in diameter at around 90,000 light years across. This means it takes light photons, travelling at about 300,000 km/s (186,000 mi/s), 90,000 years to travel from one edge to the other.
M82 is seen nearly edge-on, and is an irregular galaxy with two recently discovered faint spiral arms. It is the closest starburst galaxy to us and about 5 times more luminous than the Milky Way due to it's gravitational interaction with M82. Hubble has revealed at least 197 massive young star clusters in it's energetic core, and Dad's photo reveals some of that incredible radiating activity, where stars are being born ten times faster than in our own galactic core.
Google Hubble M81-M82 for some truly spectacular photos of this great pair of galaxies, and party on, universe!
NGC 6946 also known as the Fireworks Galaxy is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years or 7.72 megaparsecs, similar to the distance of M101 (NGC 5457) in the constellation Ursa Major. Both were once considered to be part of the Local Group but are now known to be among the dozen bright spiral galaxies near the Milky Way but beyond the confines of the Local Group. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.
Discovered by William Herschel on 9 September 1798, this well-studied galaxy has a diameter of approximately 40,000 light-years [dubious – discuss] , about one-third of the Milky Way's size, and it contains roughly half the number of stars as the Milky Way. The galaxy is heavily obscured by interstellar matter as it lies quite close to the galactic plane of the Milky Way. Due to its prodigious star formation it has been classified as an active starburst galaxy.
Various unusual celestial objects have been observed within NGC 6964. This includes the so-called 'Red Ellipse' along one of the northern arms that looks like a super-bubble or very large supernova remnant, and which may have been formed by an open cluster containing massive stars. There are also two regions of unusual dark lanes of nebulosity, while within the spiral arms several regions appear devoid of stars and gaseous hydrogen, some spanning up to two kiloparsecs across. A third peculiar object, discovered in 1967, is now known as "Hodge's Complex". This was once thought to be a young supergiant cluster, but in 2017 it was conjectured to be an interacting dwarf galaxy superimposed on NGC 6964.
[Text from Wikipedia]
GSO 12" carbon f8
Mount: Astro-Physics 1100 GTO
CCD Moravian G2-8300
Filters: Astronomik LRGB
Date: 30jul-2aug2019
Italy, Long 7°41'40"E, Lat 45°28'18"N. Sky 20,9-21,4
L: 16x600s bin1; RGB: 8x720s bin2
Maxim DL 5
Processing: Photoshop, Pixinsight
Here is galaxy NGC 1023 in the constellation Perseus. From Wikipedia: NGC 1023 is a barred lenticular galaxy (magnitude 9.4) and a member of the NGC 1023 group of galaxies in the Local Supercluster. Distance measurements vary from 9.3 to 19.7 million parsecs (30 to 64 million light-years).
NGC 1023 was discovered by William Herschel in 1786. If you look close you can see a small companion on the right-hand side, this is designated as PGC 10139 (also referred to as NGC 1023A because of its possible connection to the main galaxy). It is a magnitude 13.6 irregular galaxy. It is also cataloged in the ARP Atlas (Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies) as ARP 135.
Tech Specs: Orion 8" f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph Telescope, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO ASI290MC and ASI071MC-Pro, ZWO AAPlus, ZWO EAF. 54 x 60 seconds at -10C plus darks and flats. Image Date: November 3, 2021. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed the dense galaxy cluster SDSS J1531+3414 in the northern constellation Corona Borealis. Made up primarily of giant elliptical galaxies with a few spirals and irregular galaxies thrown in for good measure, the cluster's powerful gravity warps the image of background galaxies into blue streaks and arcs.
At the center of the bull's-eye of blue, gravitationally lensed filaments lies a pair of elliptical galaxies that are also exhibiting some interesting features. A 100,000-light-year-long structure that looks like a string of pearls twisted into a corkscrew shape winds around the cores of the two massive galaxies. The "pearls" are superclusters of blazing, blue-white, newly born stars. These super star clusters are evenly spaced along the chain at separations of 3,000 light-years from one another.
Read more: 1.usa.gov/1ztQvL9
Credit: NASA/ESA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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At first glance, this image is dominated by the vibrant glow of the swirling spiral to the lower left of the frame. However, this galaxy is far from the most interesting spectacle here — behind it sits a galaxy cluster.
Galaxies are not randomly distributed in space; they swarm together, gathered up by the unyielding hand of gravity, to form groups and clusters. The Milky Way is a member of the Local Group, which is part of the Virgo Cluster, which in turn is part of the 100,000-galaxy-strong Laniakea Supercluster.
The galaxy cluster seen in this image is known as SDSS J0333+0651. Clusters such as this can help astronomers understand the distant — and therefore early — universe. SDSS J0333+0651 was imaged as part of a study of star formation in far-flung galaxies. Star-forming regions are typically not very large, stretching out for a few hundred light-years at most, so it is difficult for telescopes to resolve them at a distance. Even using its most sensitive and highest-resolution cameras, Hubble can’t resolve very distant star-forming regions, so astronomers use a cosmic trick: they search instead for galaxy clusters, which have a gravitational influence so immense that they warp the space-time around them. This distortion acts like a lens, magnifying the light of galaxies (and their star-forming regions) sitting far behind the cluster and producing elongated arcs like the one seen in the upper left part of this image.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
This striking barred intermediate spiral Galaxy shows interesting detail in this long exposure gathered over two years.
“NGC 6744 (also known as Caldwell 101) is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Pavo (Peacock). It is considered as a Milky Way mimic in our immediate vicinity, displaying flocculent (fluffy) arms and an elongated core. It also has at least one distorted companion galaxy (NGC 6744A) superficially similar to one of the Magellanic Clouds…
NGC 6744 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.” Wikipedia
24 hours LRGB exposure.
Planewave CDK24, 0.6 m telescope.
FLI ProLine PL9000
Focal Length: 3962 mm, f6.5
Pixinsight, Lightroom
El Sauce Observatory
Río Hurtado, Coquimbo Region, Chile
Credits: Eric Ganz / Telescope Live
2021 and 2022
NGC 3344 is a relatively isolated barred spiral galaxy located 22.5 million light years away in the constellation Leo Minor. This galaxy belongs to the group known as the Leo spur, which is a branch of the Virgo Supercluster. There is both an inner and outer ring, with the prominent arms radiating outward from the inner ring and the slightly elliptical bar being situated inside. (ref: Wikipedia)
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation: Leo Minor
Right ascension: 10h 43m 31.150s
Declination: +24° 55′ 19.99″
Distance: 22.5 Mly (6.90 Mpc)
Apparent magnitude (V): 10.5
Tech Specs: Orion 8" f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph Telescope, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ASI071MC-Pro, ZWO AAPlus, ZWO EAF, 179 x 60 seconds at -10C plus darks and flats, processed using DSS. Image Date: February 26, 2022. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W95), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
Messier 84 or M84, also known as NGC 4374, is a giant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo. It is in the bottom right corner of my image. It is the 84th object in the Messier Catalogue and in the heavily populated core of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, part of the local supercluster. Radio observations and Hubble Space Telescope images of M84 have revealed two jets of matter shooting out from its center as well as a disk of rapidly rotating gas and stars indicating the presence of a supermassive black hole. NGC 4388, a spiral galaxy is in the upper left corner of my image.
Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO ASI071mc-Pro, Antares Focal Reducer, 68 x 60 second at -10C, 30 darks and 30 flats, guided using a ZWO ASI290MC and Orion 60mm guide scope. Captured using Sequence Generator Pro and processed using PixInsight. Image date: April 4, 2021. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
NGC6946 sometimes referred to as the Fireworks Galaxy, is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years or 7.72 megaparsecs, similar to the distance of M101 (NGC 5457) in the constellation Ursa Major. Both were once considered to be part of the Local Group, but are now known to be among the dozen bright spiral galaxies near the Milky Way but beyond the confines of the Local Group. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.
Discovered by William Herschel on 9 September 1798, this well-studied galaxy has a diameter of approximately 40,000 light-years, about one-third of the Milky Way's size, and it contains roughly half the number of stars as the Milky Way. It is heavily obscured by interstellar matter due to its location close to the galactic plane of the Milky Way. Due to its prodigious star formation it has been classified as an active starburst galaxy.
Various unusual celestial objects have been observed within NGC 6946. This includes the so-called 'Red Ellipse' along one of the northern arms that looks like a super-bubble or very large supernova remnant, and which may have been formed by an open cluster containing massive stars. There are also two regions of unusual dark lanes of nebulosity, while within the spiral arms several regions appear devoid of stars and gaseous hydrogen, some spanning up to two kiloparsecs across. A third peculiar object, discovered in 1967, is now known as "Hodge's Complex". This was once thought to be a young supergiant cluster, but in 2017 it was conjectured to be an interacting dwarf galaxy superimposed on NGC 6946.
Equipment used
ZWO ASI2600MC camera cooled to -20c
Sky Watcher 150 PDS telescope
ASIAIR Pro
ASI 120mm Guide Scope and Camera
EQ6-R Pro Mount
Optolong L Pro Filter
89 x 300 second exposures stacked and processed in Pixinsight.
Some of the stunning views we have of the cosmos owe their beauty to a trick of perspective, as captured in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image.
The galaxies at the top and bottom of the frame are named PGC 37639 and PGC 101374 respectively. Although it may look as if the two are in the middle of a galactic tug-of-war, connected by the prominent stream of blue through the centre of the image, PGC 37639 lies somewhat closer to Earth than its companion, and the two are not physically connected.
In another optical trick, this image does not contain two galaxies, but at least four. The upper left patch actually hosts two galaxies in the early stages of merging. Their bright centres can still be seen separately, glowing amid a maelstrom of gas and dust.
A smaller and relatively intact spiral galaxy, known as SDSSCGB 19.4, can be seen to the right of the merging duo. This trio of galaxies comprises Arp 194, a galaxy group just under 600 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Cepheus.
The blue stream is thought to have formed through the turbulent gravitational interactions occurring at the top of the frame — the uppermost galaxy clump is a whirl of flailing once-spiral arms. The stream is some 100 000 light-years long, and made up of gas, dust and many millions of newborn stars. These stars, which are clumped together to form star clusters, which in turn later accumulate as superclusters, are responsible for the striking blue hue visible here. They are mostly young, hot and massive, a combination that causes them to emit blue light.
This image was released in 2009, to commemorate the Hubble’s 19th year in space. The telescope has gone on to hit a quarter of a century orbiting Earth, a milestone it reached this April.
Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Abell 1185 is a galaxy cluster located in the constellation Ursa Major. It is approximately 400 million light-years away from Earth and spans one million light-years across. It is a member of the Leo Supercluster. One of the cluster’s brightest and most interesting objects is Arp 105 “The Guitar”. The main protagonists in this maelstrom of interacting galaxies are the spiral galaxy NGC 3561B and the eliptical NGC 3561A, along with a handful of tidal dwarf galaxies. The debris of their gravitational dance rendering a shape reminiscent of a guitar. The interacting galaxies are flinging out tidal arcs, sheets and knots of their stars across hundreds of thousands of light years. Some of these will potentially form distinct gravitationally bound condensations of stars and gas in their own right – becoming tidal dwarf galaxies.
Telescope: 16″ f3.75 Dream Scope
Camera: FLI ML16803
Mount: ASA DDM85
Exposure: 4.5 hours (24x300s L + 3x9x300s RGB)
Acquisition: March 2020 – Processing: March 2021
Location: Southern Alps, France
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Every now and then, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope glimpses a common object — say, a spiral galaxy — in an interesting or unusual way. A sharply angled perspective, such as the one shown in this Picture of the Week, can make it seem as if we, the viewers, are craning our necks to see over a barrier into the galaxy's bright centre.
In the case of NGC 3169, this barrier is the thick dust embedded within the galaxy's spiral arms. Cosmic dust comprises a potpourri of particles, including water ice, hydrocarbons, silicates, and other solid material. It has many origins and sources, from the leftovers of star and planet formation to molecules modified over millions of years by interactions with starlight.
NGC 3169 is located about 70 million light-years away in the constellation of Sextans (The Sextant). It is part of the Leo I Group of galaxies, which, like the Local Group that houses our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is part of a larger galactic congregation known as the Virgo Supercluster.
Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Ho; CC BY 4.0