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NGC 5426
This is a pretty cool image of two similarly sized galaxies that are in
the process of interacting, and eventually merging. They are located in
the constellation Virgo, and are about 130,000 light-years away from us.
You can see that both galaxies have been slightly deformed by their near
miss that has left a faint bridge of material connecting them.
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Messier 64 - The Black Eye Galaxy
This is a galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices. It lies about 17
million light-years away. A dark band of dust on one side of the galaxy
gives it its name as the Black Eye Galaxy.
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Messier 33 - The Triangulum Galaxy
2.73 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation Triangulum, sits
M33. It has a diameter of about 611,100 light-years and is the third largest
galaxy in our local group behind Andromeda and the Milky Way. If you zoom
in a bit, there are lots of pink, or red areas. These are star-making regions.
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Messier 82 - The Cigar Galaxy
This starburst galaxy is located in the constellation Ursa Major (The Bear).
It sits about 12 million light-years away and is the second largest member
of the M81 Galaxy Group. Its diameter is about 40,000 light-years. It is about
five times more luminous than the Milky Way, and its central region is about one
hundred times more luminous.
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- May 2025
- Mount: Mathis MI-1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: QHY600m @-25c CHI-1
- Exposure: 87x5 min LRGB 7hrs 15min
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- Location: IC Astronomy Obs, Spain
- March 2021 - February 2022
- Mount: OS EQ
- Telescope: Officina Stellare ProRC 700
- Camera: FLI PL16803 @-25C (SPA-2) (CCD)
- Exposure: LRGB 2 hrs 55 min
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- USA
- Date: October 2021
- Mount: Paramount ME
- Telescope: Planewave CDK17 T-17
- Camera: FLI Proline PL16803 @-25c
- Exposure: 93x15 min LRGB 23hrs
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- Location: USA
- Date: October 2021
- Mount: Paramount ME
- Telescope: Planewave CDK17 T-17
- Camera: FLI Proline PL16803 @-25c
- Exposure: 87x15 min LRGB 21hrs 45min
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Messier 65
Messier 65 sits in the constellation Leo (The Lion) about 35 million light-years
away from us. In this image M65 is the lower-left galaxy. It forms, along with
M66 and NGC 3628, the Leo Triplet. A study from 1978 suggested that all three of
these galaxies interacted with each other around 800 million years ago. Although
the galaxy itself is low in metals and hydrogen gas, which makes it not prone to
new star formation, this previous interaction is probably responsible for its current
burst of star formation.
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Messier 65
This is a cropped/zoomed-in version of the image to the left.
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Messier 63 - The Sunflower Galaxy
Located in the constellation Canes Venatici, this spiral galaxy sits about 30
million light-years away. It has two spiral arms but no central bar. There is
not a lot of star-making activity. Astronomers are fairly certain that its
center has a supermassive black hole, but aren't sure. If there is one, they
figure it would weigh about 850 million solar masses.
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Messier 51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy
This galaxy is one of the most imaged objects. It is relatively bright and easy
to find in a telescope. It is located in the constellation Canes Venatici. It's
classified as an interacting grand design spiral galaxy. It sits about 31 million
light-years away from us. Its popularity is based on the fact that it, and its
companion galaxy, NGC 5195, are currently locked in an interactive dance.
Look closely and you can see that both the outer and inner spiral arms have been
gravitationally deformed by a close pass with NGC 5195.
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- Location: IC Astronomy Observatory, Spain
- March 2024
- Mount: Paramount MX+
- Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106ED SPA-1 CCD
- Camera: FLI PL16803 @ -25c
- Exposure: 48×5 min LRGB 4 hrs
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- Location: IC Astronomy Observatory, Spain
- March 2024
- Mount: Paramount MX+
- Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106ED SPA-1 CCD
- Camera: FLI PL16803 @ -25c
- Exposure: 48×5 min LRGB 4 hrs
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- Location: IC Astronomy Observatory, Spain
- Date: June 2021 - June 2022
- Mount: Officina Stellare EQ Mount
- Telescope: Officina Stellare ProRC 700
- Camera: FLI PL16803 @ -25C SPA-2 CCD
- Exposure: 151×5 min LRGB 12 hrs 35 min
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- Location: USA
- Date: May 6, 2021
- Mount: Unknown
- Telescope: Unknown
- Camera: STXL-11002 3 CCD w/AO @ -25c
- Exposure: 87×5 min LRGB 7 hrs 15 min
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Abell 3571
Located just 654 million light-years away in the galaxy cluster Abell 3571, lies
a supergiant elliptical galaxy that goes by the name ESO 383-76. This galaxy is
one of the brightest X-ray sources in our sky. The Abell 3571 galaxy cluster is
possibly also part of the Shapley Supercluster. The galaxy's diameter is about 1.8
million light-years, making it the largest known galaxy. It also contains a
supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of between 2 to 28 billion solar
masses.
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NGC 5078
NGC 5078 is part of the NGC 5061 Galaxy Group in the constellation Hydra, which
contains 10 galaxies. This particular galaxy is a spiral galaxy. Its dust lane
appears to have been deformed, probably by an encounter with another nearby galaxy.
It sits about 91 million light-years away and has a diameter of 127,000 light-years.
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Centaurus A (Alpha)
Also known as NGC 5128, this galaxy lives in the constellation Centaurus. It was
discovered by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop from his home in New South Wales
back in 1826. Astronomers still cannot decide if it is an elliptical galaxy or a
lenticular galaxy. At its center is a supermassive black hole that weighs in at 55
million sols. It is the 5th brightest object in our night sky, as well as our closest
starburst galaxy.
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ARP 273
Arp 273 is made up of two interacting galaxies (IAG) in the constellation Andromeda,
and is also known as the Rose Galaxies. These two galaxies, due to their gravitational
interaction, are in the process of eventually merging. Each time they pass each other,
getting closer together, they trigger lots of new star formations, turning them both
into huge star nurseries.
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- April 2025
- Mount: Mathis MI-1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c
- Exposure: 48×5 min LRGB 4 hrs
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- July 2023
- Mount: Mathis MI-1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c
- Exposure: 31×5 min LRGB 2 hrs 35 min
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- April 2020
- Mount: Mathis MI-1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: FLI PL9000 @ -25c CHI-1 CCD
- Exposure: 83×10 min LRGB 13 hrs
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- Location: Heaven's Mirror Observatory, Australia
- August 2023
- Mount: Paramount MX+
- Telescope: FSQ-106ED (AUS-2)
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c CMOS
- Exposure: 198×2 min LRGB 3 hrs 20 min
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Messier 109 - The Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy
Messier 109 is a beautiful example of a barred spiral galaxy. Interesting to note that
there is an additional ring system just inside the bars. This galaxy sits in Ursa Major
(the Bear) and is about 67 million light-years away. It is the largest of the M109 Galaxy
Group which has at least 50 other galaxies. In March of 1956, a supernova was observed
from the Palomar Observatory.
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Hoag's Object
In the constellation Serpens Caput sits this small, interesting object. Initially,
this object was thought to be a planetary nebula due to its similarities to M57 -
the Ring Nebula. It turns out that this is actually a very unusual galaxy, called
Hoag's Object. It has a near perfect ring of hot, young stars that encircles the
central region. The interior diameter of the ring is 148,000 light-years. It sits about
600 million light-years away.
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Hoag's Object
This is the same object as the one to the left - just cropped to zoom in a bit.
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NGC 7331
NGC 7331 is an unbarred spiral galaxy about 43.79 million light-years away from us
in the constellation Pegasus. There is some doubt now about it being unbarred, though.
It is commonly referred to as the Milky Way Twin. One distinct difference is that its
central bulge, instead of rotating in the same direction as the disk, rotates in the
opposite direction. In this one image, I zoomed in quite a bit and scrolled through
the whole image and counted 239 additional galaxies.
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- Location: IC Astronomy Obs, Spain
- June - July 2021
- Mount: OS EQ
- Telescope: Officina Stellare ProRC 700
- Camera: FLI PL16803 @ -25C SPA-2 CCD
- Exposure: 34×5 min LRGB 2 hrs 50 min
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- Location: IC Astronomy Obs, Spain
- July 2020 - June 2021
- Mount: OS EQ
- Telescope: Officina Stellare ProRC 700
- Camera: FLI PL16803 @ -25C SPA-2 CCD
- Exposure: 16×10 min LRGB 2 hrs 40 min
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- Location: IC Astronomy Obs, Spain
- July 2020 - June 2021
- Mount: OS EQ
- Telescope: Officina Stellare ProRC 700
- Camera: FLI PL16803 @ -25C SPA-2 CCD
- Exposure: 16×10 min LRGB 2 hrs 40 min
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- Location: USA
- Date: September - November 2022
- Mount: Paramount ME
- Telescope: Planewave CDK17 T-17
- Camera: FLI Proline PL16803 @ -25c
- Exposure: 87×15 min LRGB 21 hrs 45 min
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NGC 7331
This is a cropped and zoomed-in version of the image to the left.
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NGC 4038/4039 - The Antennae Galaxies
NGC 4039 is the lower of the two galaxies. The upper galaxy is NGC 4038. These two
famous interacting galaxies, known as the Antennae Galaxies, are well into the act
of merging. Although the stars in each galaxy never collide, the gas and dust inevitably
do. This causes massive star formation, and so they are known as starburst galaxies.
Discovered by William Herschel in 1785, they reside in the constellation Corvus,
about 72 million light-years away. They measure 634,000 × 456,000 light-years.
They appear to lie in a bed of red hydrogen gas.
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NGC 4038/4039 - The Antennae Galaxies
This is another view of the preceding image in the row above. In the first image color
was calibrated referencing our G2V sun. That gives natural-looking color. In this image,
color was balanced using a bluer K-type star. The differences are subtle, but the galaxies
and their tidal trails are a touch bluer.
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Hickson 61 (HCG 61) - The Box
This collection of four galaxies in Coma Berenices was first discovered by William
Herschel in 1785. He originally listed them as a single nebula. In 1981 Paul Hickson
presented photo plates that showed that this was, in fact, a galaxy group. According
to his criteria, a galaxy group must contain at least four distinct galaxies, reasonably
compact and isolated from any other group.
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- Location: USA
- Date: September - November 2022
- Mount: Paramount ME
- Telescope: Planewave CDK17 T-17
- Camera: FLI Proline PL16803 @ -25c
- Exposure: 87×15 min LRGB 21 hrs 45 min
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: April - June 2023
- Mount: Mathis MI-1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c CHI-1
- Exposure: 77×5 min HLRGB 6 hrs 25 min
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: April - June 2023
- Mount: Mathis MI-1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c CHI-1
- Exposure: 77×5 min HLRGB 6 hrs 25 min
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- Location: IC Astronomy Obs, Spain
- Date: April 2022
- Mount: OS EQ
- Telescope: Officina Stellare ProRC 700
- Camera: FLI PL16803 @ -25C SPA-2 CCD
- Exposure: 12×10 min LRGB 2 hrs
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NGC 660
Sitting in the constellation Pisces is the peculiar polar ring galaxy NGC 660.
It lies about 45 million light-years away from us and spans about 45,000 light-years.
It is classified as a peculiar galaxy because of its ring of gas, dust, and stars that
rotates perpendicular to the main disk. Astronomers believe that this was caused by a
galactic collision that occurred about a billion years ago. The polar ring consists of,
among other types of stars, many red and blue supergiant stars, the youngest of which
is only 7 million years old.
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Messier 66
This Messier object is an intermediate spiral galaxy that sits in the constellation Leo.
It lies around 31 million light-years away from us. It is part of the Leo Triplet group
of galaxies that, in addition to M66, includes M65 and NGC 3628. It has a diameter of
95,000 light-years. It also has an unusually high rate of star formation in its spiral
arms.
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NGC 300
NGC 300, also known as the Sculptor Pinwheel Galaxy, is located in the constellation
Sculptor. It is about 94,000 light-years in diameter, which makes it just a little
smaller than our Milky Way. It sits about 6 million light-years away from us. It also
sits at an inclined angle of about 42 degrees, which gives us great views of its spiral
arms, dust lanes, and its central core area. It is also one of the brightest galaxies in
the Sculptor Galaxy Group.
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: November - December 2023
- Mount: Mathis MI-1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c (CHI-1)
- Exposure: 141×10 min HLRGB 23 hrs 30 min
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- Location: IC Astronomy Observatory, Spain
- Date: April 2023
- Mount: Officina Stellare EQ Mount
- Telescope: Officina Stellare Pro RC 700 (27" f/8)
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c (SPA-2)
- Exposure: 71×120 sec LRGB 2 hrs 20 min
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: June 2023 - October 2024
- Mount: Mathis MI-1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c (CHI-1)
- Exposure: 156×5 min HLRGB 14 hrs 40 min
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