Arp 271, the shape of things to come

[tomato]

This is a pair of interacting galaxies, NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 in Virgo, some 130 million light years distant. There is some speculation that this interaction is not dissimilar to that which our own Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will experience in around 5 billion years time.

This capture was on the ragged edge for me, culmination occurs at only 31 degrees altitude at my location so I needed to start imaging as soon as it cleared the lower edge of the dome aperture. All was well to start with then the stars started to disappear from the subs and I realised that although the target was clear of my neighbour's garage it was being temporarily obscured behind the taller obstruction of the adjoining house. I had to wait patiently for around 35 minutes before it reappeared.

I managed to get 77 x 2 mins Lum and 75 x 2 mins RGB with the Esprit 150/QHY268 dual rig. It really needs at least twice that but yet another front has blown in and the moon will soon be making an appearance.

Having said all that, I'm quite pleased with the result given the adverse capture conditions.

Thanks for looking.

[geeklee]

Excellent Steve and very clear interaction and structure showing with the data so far.  Nice subtle colour too.

[WolfieGlos]

Nice job on such a small target and limited data.

[gorann]

Oh Yes, you should be very pleased with that result Steve! The object was new to me and it appears to be rather rarely imaged. I hope you soon get the chance to add those extra subs you desire.

[tomato]

Thanks, a 2 hour (becomes 4 with the dual rig☺️) window is forecast for tomorrow, I could sneak in another session before the moon gets too obtrusive.

[gorann]

Gary Imm just posted an image of Arp 271 on Astrobin and as usual with a very informative text, well worth reading for those that want to know more about these interacting galaxies:

https://www.astrobin.com/prhkiw/

[tomato]

I have managed to get another session on this before the moon gets too intrusive, taking it out to 9.2 hrs of integration. Although the galaxies are estimated to be about 5 million LY apart so close enough for some interaction, I'm now inclined to agree with Gary Imm's view that the apparent bridge of star stuff  joining the galaxies is merely a line of sight effect and actually is part of the left hand galaxy NGC 5426's spiral arm structure.

Edit: My original post used images with PI's SPCC. I have since tried APP's csc tool and to my mind this has produced superior results, so these are now posted.

Crop

Edited April 14 by tomato
Original SPCC calibrated images replaced with CSC