A few recent galaxy images.

[smerral]

It's been a while since I posted.  The nights are now drawing in nicely in Caithness even though the weather has been hardly ideal! Nevertheless there have been a few clear spells lately so here goes.

 

Galaxy NGC 7331 is an unbarred spiral galaxy about 40 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. NGC 7331 is the brightest member of the NGC 7331 Group of galaxies. It has a radius of 60,000 light years and contains around 1.4 billion stars. 
This was imaged with a Celestron C8 and Starlight Express SXVR-H9C with a 0.5 reducer. 10x300 secs + 3x600 secs.

 

Imaged using the Celestron C8 at f.5 and the Starlight Express SXV-H9C.  The Dumbbell was 10x180 secs, NGC 891 7x300 secs +2x600 secs, and IC10 8x300 secs + 2x600 secs.

"NGC 891 is an edge-on unbarred spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by William Herschel on October 6, 1784."

"Messier 76 (M76), also known as the Little Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Perseus. The nebula lies at an approximate distance of 2,500 light years from Earth."

"IC 10 is a small irregular galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia at a distance of approximately 2.2 million light years. IC 10's location in the plane of the Milky Way hinders detailed observations as it is heavily obscured by interstellar matter. It is the only known starburst galaxy in the Local Group. Currently the stellar production rate is 0.04 to 0.08 solar masses per year. At this rate, the supply of gas in IC 10 will only last a few billion years longer."

 

 

Imaged last night with the C8 and Canon 1000D at f.6.7.  7x300secs + 3x600secs.

"IC 342 (also known as Caldwell 5) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis, located relatively close to the Milky Way. Despite its size and actual brightness, its location in dusty areas near the galactic equator makes it difficult to observe, leading to the nickname "The Hidden Galaxy", though it can readily be detected even with binoculars. If the galaxy were not obscured, it would be visible to the naked eye. The dust makes it difficult to determine its precise distance; modern estimates range from about 7 to 11 million light years."

M74 - 10x300 secs

"Messier 74 (also known as NGC 628 and Phantom Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces. It is at a distance of about 32 million light-years away from Earth. The galaxy contains two clearly defined spiral arms and is therefore used as an archetypal example of a grand design spiral galaxy.The galaxy's low surface brightness makes it the most difficult Messier object for amateur astronomers to observe. However, the relatively large angular size of the galaxy and the galaxy's face-on orientation make it an ideal object for professional astronomers who want to study spiral arm structure and spiral density waves. It is estimated that M74 is home to about 100 billion stars."

Edited September 8, 2019 by smerral

[peter shah]

super set of images

[smerral]

Thank you Peter.