NGC 6744

SPIRAL GALAXY IN PAVO

(Image centered at ra: 19:09.8 / dec -63:51)

September 2012, -  Star Party Doyle, Buenos Aires - Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Spiral Galaxy

VISUAL BRIGHTNESS: 9

APPARENT DIAMETER: 15.5 arc minutes

DISTANCE: 25 Million light years

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: ORION OPTICS UK 6" f5 Newtonian

CAMERA: QSI 583 WS

GUIDING: LodeStar in Synta 70/400 refractor / PHD Guiding

FILTERS: Baader LRGB Set

SKY CONDITIONS: Rural Skies.

EXPOSURES: LRGB (90,30,30,30) for a total exposure time of 3 hours

PROCESSING: Images Plus / Photoshop CS2

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

NGC 6744 is located deep south in the Constellation of Pavo at 25 million light year away. It sits in a rich star field and is inclined to our line of sight. It is believed to one of the most Milky Way-like of all the nearby spirals, with fluffy (flocculent) spiral arms and a large and distinctly elongated nucleus. It also has other similarities to the Milky Way: it has a satellite irregular galaxy NGC 6744 A which is visible in the image as a faint bar below left. Very interesting to see that most likely NGC 6744 A is pulling and stretching the left arm,. likewise the companion will ultimately merge with NGC 6744 in the future (*)

(*) Free adaptation from Anglo Australian Observatory and Robert Gendler essay of 140 popular astronomical objects