NGC 7217. Resonance ring galaxy in Pegasus with Edge 11 HD

[RobH]

NGC 7217 in Andromeda is an unbarred resonance ring spiral galaxy.

It'S recently been discovered that a significant number of the stars in the galaxy are counter-rotating, and it also has a large, but very faint circular halo of stars surrounding it. This halo is much too faint to be seen well here though.

The outer ring has most of the H1 gas in it, and is full of new blue stars.

It's quite bright visually at magnitude 10.1, but this is just the core.

It lies at a distance of 50 million light years in Pegasus

I imaged this back in 2009 with my TMB 152 at F8, and could see that there was some interesting structure there that I didn't have the resolution or focal length to capture properly, so this was top of my list of targets for a longer FL scope.

This is 32 x 6 minutes at around F7 with the Edge 11 (astrophysics CCD67 focal reducer) for the luminance. I didn't have time to grab any colour data, so have used my original 2009 image for the colour.

The original image was rescaled using Registar.

Both colour and luminance were shot with an Atik 16HR.

Luminance shot over several nights in November.

Cheers

Rob

[Tim]

There cant be too many galaxies that are really face on like this Rob, I dont remember seeing this one before.

It's a beauty!

[RobH]

Thanks Tim, it is a real gem isn't it. Small though. This was taken at roughly 2m focal length, and is a crop of the full sized image.

There's a bit of colour noise which would benefit from more colour data, but, like many things, that'll have to wait for another time

Rob

[MikeD]

Great job Rob. love the image scale.

Mike.

[antimorris]

Very nice! Gotta love when you can roll in data from a few years ago to complete one now. (Registar rocks for such applications!) ... I love seeing nice spiral galaxies head on!

[NickK]

That's very good love the clear detail. There must be lots of these targets us mere mortals manage to just glimpse!

[barkis]

As near to the likeness of a Catherine Wheel you can get.

Beautiful object, and although it would probably take thousands of years to verify, it could almost have perfect rotational symetry.

Ron.

[steppenwolf]

What an amazing galaxy and so well orientated for our delight! Lovely image, Rob proving the advantage of holding on to old data as you never know when you will be able to press it into excellent service.

[Uranium235]

Hats off to you sir for round stars at 2m

This is a new one on me, thanks for bringing it to us!

[nmoushon]

I've never seen this galaxy before. Love the face on view and how clear your data is. Especially when combining from old data.

[SkyJamie]

This is new to me too, awesome picture Rob!

Jamie

[FranckiM06]

Woo, it is really nice image Rob. Splendid and lot of result in the arms. Very good processing also.

Franck

[peter shah]

You dont make it easy for yourself Rob....stunning!

[RobH]

You dont make it easy for yourself Rob....stunning!

I don't like 'easy' Peter

Thanks for the kind words all....I'd been itching to see what detail was lurking in this little beaty at a longer FL. It'd be nice to capture the very faint outer ring, but not sure if my skies are good enough for that!

Cheers

Rob

[johnh]

Beautiful galaxy with excellent structure to the core and no star spikes which is good! There are many galaxies around suited to the longer focal lengths of the C11 HD which I will look forward to seeing.

John.

[RobH]

Beautiful galaxy with excellent structure to the core and no star spikes which is good! There are many galaxies around suited to the longer focal lengths of the C11 HD which I will look forward to seeing.

John.

No John....spikes didn't look right on this one :D

I'll be stuck with (non artificial) spikes soon though....12 inch RC incoming!!

Cheers

Rob

[johnh]

Well that sounds fantastic Rob for high res, not many in the UK go for RC's with the seeing so will be interesting to see this develop.

John.

[Ransu]

Stunning image of very beautiful galaxy, i have try catch this one with 600D and 250 Newton.

[Shibby]

Mightily impressive image, awesome galaxy. Thanks for sharing

[ollypenrice]

Simply extraordinary! What tinglingly fine detail you have there. It makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Fabulous.

Long FL images do have the Wow factor when done to this standard.

Olly

[Tom OD]

Gorgeous Rob, and as mentioned earlier, its such a beautful face on galaxy, don't think I've seen it before.

Good luck with the 12 RC.

Tom.

[prokyon]

You captured so many details and colours are great. Superb!

[Looking Up]

Thats a super pic of a great little galaxy, it's easy to see the how small it is when you look at the foreground stars!

[Beyond_Vision]

A new target to me too, thanks for sharing it with us. The detail is pretty amazing which is no mean feat at this focal length. Masterful stuff Rob

Regards

Kevin

[duncan.p]

Fantastic image.........