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NGC 5078

Edge On Spiral Galaxy in Hydra

 (ra: 13:19.8 / dec - 27:24)

 

 

 

 

February 2011, Complejo La Aldea in Villa de Merlo

San Luis, Argentina

 

 


 

DATA

TYPE: Galaxy 

APPARENT MAGNITUDE: 12

SIZE: 4 x 2 arc minutes

DISTANCE: 94 Million light years

   

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

A rather small object surrounded by a populated star and galaxy field. This object was a challenge for the SCT at f 6.3 or 1260 focal length. NGC 5078 is located 4 degrees south from Gamma Hydra and also 4 degrees North West M83. This galaxy presents a dust lane that cross its equatorial plane and is interacting with IC 879 of magnitude 13.2. The gravitational forces of NGC 5078 towards its small companion may be the reason of its  "S" shape. At the lower right is visible IC 874 with magnitude 12.5. Lots of faint galaxies were capture in the background probably more than 100 million light years away.

 

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: Celestron SCT 8" working at f6.3

MOUNT: Sky Watcher HEQ6

SKY CONDITIONS: Transparency and Seeing good

CAMERA: QSI 583 WS -10Cº

FILTERS: Astronomik Type 2, Ha 6 nm

EXPOSURES: LRGB (90,20,20,20) RGB binned 2x2

GUIDING: William Optics ZenithStar 66 f6. Starlight Xpress Lodestar Camera. AA 3.71 Control Camera Plug-in

PROCESSING: Darks calibration for the RGB. No flats nor offsets. Images Plus (Sigma Median Combination) CCD Sharp Deconvolution; NASA Photoshop Fits Liberator, Photoshop CS