The faint "Jets" of galaxy NGC 1097

strongmanmike (Michael) · #1 07-10-2013, 10:06 PM

I have always wanted to point the AG12 at this galaxy to try and pick up these curious faint features.

One of these very faint optical "Jets" associated with NGC1097 was first suspected on UK Schmidt plates in 1974 and only confirmed in 1975 with the 4m Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo observatory in Chile

The best evidence based on spectra of the jets and computer simulations suggest that the jets represent the captured remains of a dwarf galaxy that passed through the inner regions of NGC 1097′s disk a loooong time ago.

Unlike some other images I have seen of NGC1097 and these jets, I have not artificially (and inaccurately) enhanced their luminosity and shape by simply lassoing and brightening with some arbitrary border set by me, this is 100% as they appear after stretching, this keeps them in acurate brightness context, in comparison with the main galaxy (respecting the light as it were

....

)

Anyway... while not the best I've seen here, the seeing wasn't too bad, so that helped.

FULL FRAME

CLOSE UP of the Jets

At fainter than 27mag/sqr arcsec here is a HIGH CONTRAST NEGATIVE to make the jets clear

This was a fun imaging target and seeing these jets so clearly and in full colour!!..when only a generation or so ago their visibility was only possible with cutting edge imagery using huge 4m class telescopes at the Worlds top Observatory... is very satisfying

Mike

Larryp (Laurie) · #2 07-10-2013, 10:16 PM

Nice image and those jets look incredible-well done, Mike

tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook) · #3 07-10-2013, 10:17 PM

Outstanding!!!

So unusual the way that one of the jets seems to take a right angle turn, is that a faint one off to the left too?
Mind you the more images I see of galaxies, strange exotic shapes seem more common!

Thanks for sharing Mike!

RickS (Rick) · #4 07-10-2013, 10:19 PM

Very cool image, Mikey! I was imaging the same galaxy this weekend but haven't done more than a quick & dirty process yet. Now I'll have to do a bloody good job on it just to remain competitive

I can't see any sign of the fourth jet in my data. Did you pick up any traces of it?

Cheers,
Rick.

naskies (Dave) · #5 07-10-2013, 10:23 PM

Stunning - well done!

The jet at 1 o'clock seems to shoot out and then suddenly turn towards 5 o'clock near the top-right corner of the image. Any ideas what's going on there?

RobF (Rob) · #6 07-10-2013, 10:23 PM

Wondered if you two had been discussing targets for the weekend!

Wonderful image Mike. You really do have a skill for making galaxies look natural. Top stuff (and still looking forward to the Leyburn version Rick)

astroron (Ron) · #7 07-10-2013, 10:24 PM

Great work Mike, a pleasure to see such expertise in your images.
A great galaxy to image and with jets to boot.
Cheers

RickS (Rick) · #8 07-10-2013, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by naskies

The jet at 1 o'clock seems to shoot out and then suddenly turn towards 5 o'clock near the top-right corner of the image. Any ideas what's going on there?

That jet is called R1 and this structure is called the "dogleg." I found a paper about NCG 1097 where they did N-body simulations of a minor merger and managed to show similar structures forming. The fine details of the paper are incomprehensible to mere mortals, of course

strongmanmike (Michael) · #9 07-10-2013, 11:06 PM

Hey thanks guys

glad you liked it, it came together well in the end I thought. Slightly better seeing would have been better but it was quite ok on the Lum night (thank god) but the RGB night (last night) the seeing was atrocious

Yes the 4th Jet is there but only a very faint hint

...should have kept collecting data buuuut meah.. as I've said before, I get bored

hence one of the reasons why I got an F3.8 scope

Mike

alpal · #10 07-10-2013, 11:47 PM

Hi Mike,
another brilliant image - this time Fornax.
You really are churning them out.
Keep them coming.

cheers Allan

dvj (John) · #11 08-10-2013, 12:09 AM

Really great stuff Mike! Keep them coming!

DavidU (Dave) · #12 08-10-2013, 01:00 AM

How good's that !!!!

cybereye (Mario) · #13 08-10-2013, 07:15 AM

Mike,

Simply awesome.

Mario

gregbradley · #14 08-10-2013, 08:08 AM

A magnificent image Mike. One of your best.

Greg.

Paul Haese · #15 08-10-2013, 08:54 AM

Very nice Mike. Heaps of detail, colour is ok but looks a little magenta over the entire frame. Still a great image. I have had this target on my RC12 imaging list for over 2 years and wondered what it would look like given that larger scopes produce very detailed images. There are not many images produced by a 12" scope out on the web. Your image has got me thinking this might be a great target after all. I will not get to it this year as commissioning the RC12 will be a couple of months off yet, but next year it will be looking at this object. Thanks for the image and inspiration.