NGC7479

NGC7479, aka the propeller galaxy, is a barred spiral galaxy about 105 million light years distant.

The galaxy has several unusual features, perhaps most notable is that fact that the rotation of the galaxy in the visible and near IR is opposite to that when observed in the radio spectrum.  The spiral structure is also highly asymmetric and star formation is evident in the spiral arms and central core.  It is believed that these features can be explained by a merger event with a smaller companion galaxy c300 million years ago.

The galaxy has a very small apparent size and I found the image difficult to process with my limited data set. Whilst I like the end result, I think some Ha data would help to highlight the star forming regions.

The image represents a total integration time of 4.3 hours and was taken with my Esprit 150.