Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
I have noticed that dark ring in my own images of M83 in the past. I always assumed I made a processing error like I used the lasso tool or something. Now I think its an actual thing.
Not just on M83 either.
Greg.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cometcatcher
Wonderful image M&T! Really resolving those tiny background galaxies too. I try and process out the dark bands lol. Oops.
When images show so many background galaxies, I always wonder what sort of life might be there. So many opportunities for it!
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Would love to know more about the dark ring.
If there really is a dark ring, it is because there is a lighter ring further out. Galaxies that have sustained a direct hit by another galaxy can have a faint outer smoke-ring. Others more typically don't have an outer edge, but fade gradually into intergalactic space. This one, as Mike Sidonio pointed out, does have a faint but photographable tidal tail much further out, but it is only partial.
Putting all that together, on balance, I'm inclined to think that this particular time, it's most likely an artifact of our processing.
