NGC 2146

[johnrt]

 

February has been very kind so far, and I've managed to get some significant progress on both my current imaging projects, a nice change from the unseasonable rains and winds we've had here in tropical Sevenoaks.

Another off the beaten track galaxy, this one is NGC 2146 a peculiar shaped spiral in Camelopardalis. The odd shape is either caused by it being in the very last stages of devouring another galaxy or due to gravitational influence from a companion galaxy. I framed the image so it would also contain NGC 2146A (bottom centre) as this might be the culprit!

Consisting of just under 14 hours of exposure time all captured during January and February 2016.

Altair Astro 6" RC, Atik 460ex, captured in Sequence Generator Pro and processed in Pixinsight and CS5.

Thank you for looking and I hope you like

 

[Daniel-K]

that is really nice field John. very delicate processing as usual 

[johnrt]

17 minutes ago, Daniel-K said:

that is really nice field John. very delicate processing as usual 

Thank you Dan.

[Davey-T]

Another cracker John.

Dave

[StargeezerTim]

Star (or Galaxy) wars! lovely image.

[cfpendock]

14 hours very well spent.  I had wanted to have a crack at this one but the sky here hasn't agreed....

Chris

[laudropb]

Very nice image and informative description.

[johnrt]

Thank's all, it's great to be imaging again after such a poor winter. 

[MartinB]

That's a new one on me.  Some great detail from a small target and some nice colour

[johnrt]

Thank you Martin!

[theo]

A beautifully processed image John. First rate.

Pete

[johnrt]

Thank you Pete!

[gorann]

Great image!

Looks like a galaxy with a birth defect. I noted down NGC 2146 and definitively have a go at it when the nebulas finally descended behind the trees and the moon has gone away.....

[mdstuart]

http://bristolweather.org.uk/galaxies/find.php?obj=NGC%202146

I observed ngc 2146 visually in my old 10 inch scope as per the link. I could detect the irregular shape...I must go back with my 16 inch and try for 2146A...

Thanks for sharing that stunning image.

Mark

[johnrt]

Thank you both, it's worth a try for imaging, it's pretty small so needs a decent focal length but quite bright.

I've never done any observing so I'm not sure how difficult NGC 2146A would be to spot, but it was much less visible in the subs when imaging. 

[Epicycle]

Exquisite image John!

E.

[Martin-Devon]

Well I'm certainly getting an exercise in learning new galaxies looking at your images - credit to you for going off the beaten path, this is yet another new one to me. It's a superb image again, beautifully processed.

Martin

 

[johnrt]

Thank you Martin & Epicycle!

[Barry-Wilson]

Distinctive natural processing and your signature-style John.  Great flat background.

Interesting object too, encouraging us all to look for the unusual.

[pietervdv]

This is a very nice and original capture, well done! But I think your background is a bit too bright. Maybe you can adjust

the crop of the image lower left? Bright stars that are chopped in half due to the framing are distracting.

 

Pieter

[johnrt]

The background looks much brighter than in other places I have posted the image, it is the effect of the image against the very jet black background of the forum. I really don't like images with an overly dark background.