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Interacting galaxies


Martin Meredith

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Here are a few interacting galaxies captured in a couple of sessions this week. All were taken in SQM 18 skies with a 80-90% moon not far away, unfiltered, with an 8" f/4 Quattro Newtonian, Lodestar X2 mono camera and LodestarLive v0.11 software, mounted on an AZ-EQ6 in alt-az mode. 


First, Vorontsov-Velyaminov 310, composed of NGC 5403 and PGC 49824 in Canes Venatici, at a distance of 140 MLY. The lower panel shows the image from the original V-V catalogue. Although the interaction refers to the A and B components, the A galaxy itself is to my eyes at least also rather peculiar. I don't know whether the interaction with B has caused this shearing either side of the dust lane, but I've never seen anything like it. The interaction is classified as 'distant pair'. 


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Not far away is Arp 84, composed of NGC 5305 and 5394, at 174 MLY. This is classified as a "spiral with a large, bright companion on arms". You can see the disruption being caused to the arm of the larger spiral. Mag 12.3 NGC 5305 is type SB(s)b pec, while mag 13.6 NGC 5394 is SA(s)b pec. The Arp catalogue image is at lower right. The group is also number 48 in the V-V catalogue. The small edge-on galaxy to the right (in the inset image) is mag 17.9 PGC 2101092 which isn't part of the group, being at an estimated 730 MLY. This whole area is full of faint galaxies.


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The most well-known interacting pair in Canes Venatici is Arp 85 (also number 1 in the V-V catalogue), better known as the Whirlpool (M51) with NGC 4194. This pair is at 35 MLY.  


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By the way, an unfiltered moonlit image like this relies heavily on the excellent live stacking, nonlinear compression (in this case sinh) and dark subtraction in LodestarLive. Here's a single 30s sub for comparison. The quality of the software continues to impress me. Thanks Paul!


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Finally, a look at what happens after galactic interaction -- in this case, a merger of two smaller galaxies. This is Arp 153, better known as Centaurus A, which reaches a mere 10 degrees above the horizon down here in the south of Spain. Centaurus A is a radio galaxy, and a neighbour at a mere 11 MLY.


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Thanks for looking


Martin
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 Centaurus A, which reaches a mere 10 degrees above the horizon down here in the south of Spain. 
Thanks for looking
Martin

Fantastic capture of Cent 'A' Galaxy Martin, considering it is only 10 degrees Alt for you!!!   :eek:

It passes overhead at almost 90 degrees here  :smiley:

It is the faintest 'naked eye' object I have ever seen.

At Mag 6.84 it is right on the edge of the limit of the human eye.

On a totally Moonless night and with exceptional seeing, naked eye it looks like a very, very faint star that refuses to focus no matter how much you squint  :laugh:

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Thanks very much Ken, Davy, Nytecam, Damian, Dave and everyone for the likes. Trust me, the secret is in the equipment and the software and not the operator ;-)

Now back 'oop north but I still have some southern galaxy clusters to post at some point...

Martin

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