Tumbling galaxies in Virgo

[wimvb]

Ngc 4206, 4216, and 4222 are three galaxies in the Virgo cluster. They are located at a distance of approximately 50 - 60 Mly. The most interesting is the one in the middle. 

Ngc 4216 is a barred spiral galaxy of type SAB(s)b, and is one of the larger galaxies in the Virgo cluster.
Ngc 4216 forms a pair with the smaller galaxy just above it in this image, VCC 165 (LEDA 39247). The galaxy is subject to ongoing research after it was found to have several tidal star streams. These streams are likely the result of accretion events where satellite galaxies are being drawn into the main galaxy.
What is particularly intruiging is the fact that one of the tidal streams contains three dwarf galaxies, two of which are visible and indicated in the annotated image. It has been speculated that these dwarfs, rather than being absorbed by ngc 4216, may be forming in the tidal stream. (S. Paudel et al., The Astrophysical Journal, 767:133 (11pp), 2013 April 20)

Annotated superstretched luminance image:
A, B dwarf galaxies in the tidal structure (F) of ngc 4216

Acquisition details:

• Skywatcher MN190 DS on SW AZ-EQ6 with off axis guider
• Camera: ZWO ASI174MM-Cool with ZWO LRGB filters
• L: 65 x 4 minutes; R 55 x 4 mins, G, 44 x 4 mins, B 30 x 4 mins (total integration time: just shy of 13 hours)
• Processed in PixInsight.

Edited April 6, 2020 by wimvb

[don4l]

What a lovely image.

[stepping beyond]

Wim that is awesome my friend , I've had rain  and clouds since getting a new Meade lx85 goto . I spent 8 nights trying to get it to work with 3rd party software and freeware and nothing . I sent it back for a replacement and I sent the replacement back for the same reasons. I'm now trying to get my lxd55 and autostar working again for planetary and lunar use with my 80mm refractor f5 / guidescope. I just can't get any help with this anywhere , I posted to the lxd55 group on YAHOO and still waiting and I've got some clear weather for 4 nights . Any help would be appreciated.

[wimvb]

3 minutes ago, stepping beyond said:

Wim that is awesome my friend

Thank you.

4 minutes ago, stepping beyond said:

Any help would be appreciated.

I would if I could. But unfortunately I don't know anything about Meade gear.

[wimvb]

6 minutes ago, don4l said:

What a lovely image.

Thank you.

[Dr Strange]

Wow! What a great shot! How dark are your skies?

[wimvb]

Just now, Dr Strange said:

Wow! What a great shot! How dark are your skies?

Thank you. I measured sky darkness a while ago at about mag 20.5, and fortunately there are no glaring lights from neighbours. The only disturbing light is from all the LED indicators on my gear.

[Craig a]

That’s superb, this is on my to do list once the moon has gone away

[Paul M]

A great image and informative too!

As a boy I discovered the universe in the flowing rough order, an order of increasing mindblowingness.

The solar system and the planets, the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and by then I was already lost in space, then one day I saw a photo of the Virgo cluster and that just blew what little mind I had left.

The great galaxy clusters still mesmerise me to this day. I'm certain that contemplating such imensity is the main reason I'm not normal

 

[gorann]

Lovely galaxies Wim and a very interesting write up about them!

A very sunny day here but if I turn down the blinds in my room I think I see a tidal stream and two out of three dwarf galaxies. Good that you knew they were there since these could easily have been eaten up by some noise reduction.

[gorann]

PS. To make sure I actually see a tidal stream I down loaded that paper from The Astrophysical Journal (attached here). Here is their image with the tidal stream (not as pretty galaxies as in your image).

Paudel_2013_ApJ_767_133.pdf

[wimvb]

In my image, seeing the tidal stream is like "you see it, if you believe it". But the small dwarfs are definitely there, and even these are super faint at magnitude 26.5 M/arcsec. My luminance just isn't flat enough to be able to pull more out of it. 

[wimvb]

1 hour ago, Craig a said:

That’s superb, this is on my to do list once the moon has gone away

Thanks. I'm sure it will be worth the effort. There are many galaxies in this area of the sky. 

[wimvb]

I posted this image on the Swedish astronomy forum, and got a reply from a member there. He searched a few of the very faintest galaxies in my image (on the right hand side, just on the edge) and found a redshift of 0.36. This puts that faint fuzzy at a distance of 4.6 Gly. Imagine, the photons that I captured left that galaxy when the solar system started forming. Mind boggling.