ngc 524 - a faint galaxy in pisces

[wimvb]

NGC 524 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation of Pisces. It is located at about the same RA as the Triangulum galaxy (M 33), but at a lower DEC (at about 9 degrees).

It's at a distance of about 90 Mly. The galaxy provided the stage for two supernovae (2000 and 2008), which is probably why it's in the LT archives

The data for this image was captured by the Liverpool Telescope at La Palma (2 m, f/10 @ 0.3 "/pixel)

Red: 8 x 60 or 90 seconds

Green & Blue: 7 x 60 or 90 seconds each

[MikeODay]

Very nice image Wim, thanks for sharing.

[wimvb]

Thanks, Mike.

It must be a faint galaxy when the fuxxues in the background (top) end up brighter than the main target.

Also, is it my mobile screen, or are the stars magenta in this image? They didn't look that way on my computer screen. I will have to recheck.

[MikeODay]

51 minutes ago, wimvb said:

Thanks, Mike.

It must be a faint galaxy when the fuxxues in the background (top) end up brighter than the main target.

Also, is it my mobile screen, or are the stars magenta in this image? They didn't look that way on my computer screen. I will have to recheck.

I've not seen a galaxy like that before - the concentric rings remind me of a diffraction pattern.

And yes a couple of the stars do have magenta / pink ring around them but your colour balance looks good - some kind of aberration / flare in the telescope / corrector glass maybe.   

Screen capture of Pixel Picker app - point sample RGB 230 204 251 ( see just above the add for tree stump removal  )

[gorann]

As I commented on Astrobin, this is a nice one for the LT gallery Wim, with the ring structure clearly visible. I thought only HST could accomplish that for this galaxy. It may very well be the best non-sky telescope image of it so far.

And, as Mike points out it has the concentric blue rings around bright stars that appears to be a signature feature of the Liverpool Telescope.

[wimvb]

Thanks, Mike. The blue filter of the Liverpool telescope has some serious reflections. The halo around and near bright stars is a reflection of the mirrors. As for the colour imbalance, I had also noticed that the green histogram wasn't perfectly aligned with the red and blue. A bit too fierce in green background removal. But the background and other stars seem to have good colour, so I'll leave it as it is.

[wimvb]

11 hours ago, gorann said:

As I commented on Astrobin, this is a nice one for the LT gallery Wim, with the ring structure clearly visible. I thought only HST could accomplish that for this galaxy. It may very well be the best non-sky telescope image of it so far.

And, as Mike points out it has the concentric blue rings around bright stars that appears to be a signature feature of the Liverpool Telescope.

The French and Bosnian wikipedia sites have the same image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey which shows the ring structure, but with a strange colour blance. Other than that, most sites use the HST image, which probably also includes Ha data.

[gorann]

35 minutes ago, wimvb said:

The French and Bosnian wikipedia sites have the same image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey which shows the ring structure, but with a strange colour blance. Other than that, most sites use the HST image, which probably also includes Ha data.

I expect that the LT should beat the SDSS any time, and SDSS is just bicolour (red and blue filters)

[wimvb]

53 minutes ago, gorann said:

I expect that the LT should beat the SDSS any time, and SDSS is just bicolour (red and blue filters)

I'm working on an even better one at the moment, but I will be computer PixInsight deprived for a week due to work requirements (don't you hate it when that happens). Planning to post my next image a week from now.