Some galaxies in Lynx

[wimvb]

This is one of the lesser known galaxy groups. Even Simbad has very limited data on the fainter objects that are visible in the image.

The brightest galaxy, and the only one with notable detail, is ngc 2469, a mere 150 Mly distant. Most other galaxies are at a distance of between 370 and 390 Mly from our own Milky Way, a few as far as 600 Mly.

To put these distances in some perspective, about 380 milion years ago, when light left these deep sky objects, life on earth decided it was time to leave the seas and start inhabiting dry land.

Ngc 2469, right off center, is a Sbc type galaxy with a clear spiral structure, a core that consists of older stars and arms with younger stars. The galaxy has a diameter of about 31 000 ly, much smaller than the Milky Way. Ngc 2488, left off center, is an E-S0 type galaxy, which means that it falls between an elliptic and simple spiral type. This galaxy is about 370 Mly distant and about twice as large as ngc 2469 (although my data indicates that it has a halo which makes it much larger than Simbad's numbers suggest).

On the other hand, the needle galaxy at the bottom of the image, ugc 4133 is 390 Mly distant and has a size of 150 000 light years, about 50% larger than our own. This galaxy forms a pair with ugc 4134, 392 Mly distant and 102 000 light years across.

Data for this image was collected during a clear spell in February, with my MN190 telescope and ASI294MM camera. I took 157 L exposures and 122 RGB exposures, all 150 seconds. Total integration time just over 11 hours.

Edited February 20, 2021 by wimvb
added annotated image

[callisto]

I just love these 'deep field' images....well done 👍

 

Mark

[Craig a]

Yes I love these kind of shots too, this is my kind of imaging you can keep all them bright nebulas these faint far away places is where it’s at, it’s amazing what we can capture from our amateur equipment in our back gardens 

Edited February 20, 2021 by Craig a

[peter shah]

wow so much to see....lovely shot

[wimvb]

2 hours ago, callisto said:

I just love these 'deep field' images....well done 👍

 

Mark

Me too. Thanks

[wimvb]

1 hour ago, Craig a said:

Yes I love these king of shots too, this is my king of imaging you can keep all them bright nebulas these faint far away places is where it’s at, it’s amazing what we can capture from our amateur equipment in our back gardens 

Nebulae have their charm as well, I think. But I do like these far away islands. They put everything in perspective.

1 hour ago, peter shah said:

wow so much to see....lovely shot

I try to capture as much data as possible, so that I can avoid noise reduction during processing. That way it is easier to go deeper. But these projects take time to finish.

[gorann]

I fully agree with Peter, lovely shot Wim!

[wimvb]

9 minutes ago, gorann said:

I fully agree with Peter, lovely shot Wim!

Thanks, Göran.

[tomato]

That’s a lovely image of a region a bit off the beaten track.
 

I’m a massive fan of galaxy imaging, up close or wide field, they fuel my enthusiasm for AP much more than ‘local’ nebulae.

[gorann]

8 hours ago, tomato said:

That’s a lovely image of a region a bit off the beaten track.
 

I’m a massive fan of galaxy imaging, up close or wide field, they fuel my enthusiasm for AP much more than ‘local’ nebulae.

I love them both Steve and they both fuel my enthusiasm: good seeing in the late winter/spring = long FL galaxy imaging. Bad seeing in the autumn/early winter = short FL nebulae imaging. One problem is a night with bad seeing in the spring🥴

[wimvb]

17 minutes ago, gorann said:

I love them both Steve and they both fuel my enthusiasm: good seeing in the late winter/spring = long FL galaxy imaging. Bad seeing in the autumn/early winter = short FL nebulae imaging. One problem is a night with bad seeing in the spring🥴

Also bad: good seeing (and excellent guiding), but the worst transparency ever. I am culling exposures for another project atm, and have so far tossed out 50 of 136 exposures due to bad transparency. The images look overexposed, have nice stars, but show no sign of my intended target. I hope that when the skies clear, we will get both seeing and transparency good enough to gather galaxy photons.

[maw lod qan]

An amazing image! 

Thanks for all the work and posting it! It allows me to view distant things I would have never seen!

[Tiago Ferreira]

very good!

[wimvb]

14 minutes ago, maw lod qan said:

An amazing image! 

Thanks for all the work and posting it! It allows me to view distant things I would have never seen!

my pleasure.

2 minutes ago, astrocanito said:

very good!

Thank you.

[bob-c]

Nice pic.