NGC 210

 BARRED SPIRAL GALAXY IN CETUS (THE SEA MONSTER)

(Image centered at: ra 00h:40 m / dec - 13º 52')

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ANNOTATED IMAGE 100% RESOLUTION

December 2024, Observatorio Cielos Albertnos, Buenos Aires, Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Spiral Barred Galaxy

APPARENT DIAMETER:  5 x 3 degrees arc minutes

APPARENT MAGNITUDE (V): 11

DISTANCE: 67 Million  +/- light years

IMAGE INFORMATION

INSTRUMENT: Orion Optics UK 6" Newtonian with Ultra Grade Optics working at f 4.5

CAMERA: QHY 183 Mono Camera

MOUNT: Vixen GPDX with SkyWatcher motors drive. Guided off axis with QHY 5-II Mono Camera 

FILTERS: Baader LRGB Set 

SKY CONDITIONS: Bortle 2-3 skies

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

NGC 210 is a barred spiral galaxy that is rarely photographed today. It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel in 1785. It is located in the Constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster) about 67 million light years away, meaning that the light we are seeing reflected in the image started at the time when the earth was populated by dinosaurs, at the end of the Cretaceous period. The apparent size of NGC 210 is 5 x 3 arcminutes, somewhat relatively small compared to better-known galaxies, but its actual diameter is 100,000 light years, a little less than our Milky Way, which spans a distance of 150,000 light years.

NGC 210 is noted for its peculiar arms, which appear to be in the process of becoming a ring galaxy. They also have several apparently dense regions throughout them. The inner part of the galaxy appears to be lenticular, with a dust lane in it. The nucleus of the galaxy appears much brighter than the rest of it, suggesting an active galactic nucleus.

The annotated image below shows very small galaxies but they are much further away from our solar system.

NGC 210 ANNOTATED IMAGE

BARRED SPIRAL GALAXY IN CETUS (THE SEA MONSTER)

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