Ten Favourite Galaxies

[glenc]

What are your ten favourite galaxies?
I decide to have 10 galaxies not 5 because there are just so many of them.
MW, LMC, SMC, M31, M83, N253, etc

Here are 132 images of galaxies to help you decide.
https://picasaweb.google.com/110048826379679252146/GalaxiesMag10?authkey=Gv1sRgCMzYpr_ v85usfA#

The images mostly have a 28 arc-min field and the galaxies are all brighter than mag 10.

[bigjoe]

Hello Glen.

Mine are:
1. M83.
2. M77.
3. N3115. (easy as)
4. N4565.
5. N4945.
6. N1365.
7. M65.
8. M104.
9. M31.
10. N253.
Leaving out the clouds and Omega Centauri.

Listed but really in no particular order of favouritism.
Cheers once again.
Bigjoe.:thumbsup:

[Allan]

Milky Way
LMC
SMC
NGC 7552/7582/7590/7599 - Grus Quartet
M65/66 NGC 3628 - Leo Triplet
NGC 253 - Sculptor
NGC 5128 - Centaurus A
M31 - Andromeda
M104 - Sombrero
M83 - Southern Pinwheel

I realise 2 are groups of galaxies, but I really like galaxy clusters.

[glenc]

Thanks Joe and Allan. Galaxy groups are fine.

[Robh]

Hi Glen,

NGC 253 (Sculptor Galaxy)
NGC 55 in Sculptor
M104 (Sombrero)
M83 (Southern Pinwheel)
NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)
NGC 4945 in Centaurus
M65/66 (part of Leo Triplet)
NGC 4565 (Needle Galaxy)
NGC 7582/7590/7599 (bunched three of Grus Quartet)
NGC 1365 in Fornax

Regards, Rob

[madbadgalaxyman]

OK glen, I'll play this game!

Here are ten favourites of the v. mad galaxy man.

Actually, I will do five galaxies today and five galaxies tomorrow.

NGC 5266
Elliptical/S0 galaxy with a dust lane along the minor axis. Central portions are like an elliptical, but outer portions are disky like an S0.
One of the best examples of a nearby galaxy that is probably the product of a merger between two large galaxies, perhaps the merger of two large spirals. Odd that so many of these "merger products" are not quite any particular Hubble type.....

151634
The inner part that is seen in this image could be taken for an elliptical, but there is also a very unusual low-surface-brightness very-very extended envelope which has characteristics of a disk.
An alternative to the "merger" hypothesis for the origin of the giant LSB outer disk (which is not shown in this image) is that intergalactic gas has gradually fallen into the potential well of this galaxy and thereby Very Slowly formed the faint very-large-scale disk.
________________

NGC 3256
This small, but high surface brightness, system is a galaxy merger which shows evidence for multiple nuclei. Not sure of the latest science on this one, but the two galaxies have just merged, and the whole system looks very messy as a result.

151635
(prominent tidal tails are not shown in this short exposure)
_______________________

NGC 6771

This galaxy illustrates a morphology which is rare amongst the nearby field and Galaxy Group galaxies and which is also rare in the (relatively low galaxy density) Virgo Cluster. For this reason, it is not familiar to us, because it is not in the canonical galaxy atlases such as the Carnegie Atlas of Galaxies.
The bulge is what is commonly known as a "giant boxy/X/peanut shaped bulge".
But There are plenty of these galaxies in dense clusters of galaxies!

151636

_______________

NGC 4424
This galaxy is probably the product of a galaxy merger, and it is in the Virgo Cluster. This galaxy cannot be classified by placing it in a single position on the orthodox Hubble Sequence of Hubble types (E - S0- S0/a - Sa - Sb - Sc - Scd -Sd - Sdm - Sm - Irr. )
It illustrates a novel morphological type or class.
The inner part could be taken for an irregular galaxy or a magellanic spiral, but the outer envelope is smooth, almost like the disk of an S0 galaxy.
Hmmmm......food for thought here!!

151637
______________________

NGC 4435
This one illustrates a lot of important themes in the study of galaxy morphology, for instance:
- There is a bright disk, and there is no evident recent star formation, so this makes the nominal Hubble class to be S0
- However, there is a reasonably bright spheroidal bulge/halo component which is actually bigger than the disk
- bulges are not supposed to be bigger than disks, but here it is!
- there is also a very small dusty disk (or annulus) hiding in the very centre, which may perhaps show evidence of some residual recent star formation.

151638

151639
(isophotes of NGC 4435)
(is this an elliptical galaxy or an S0 galaxy???......it is hard to say, really. Conceptually, it could be thought of as an elliptical galaxy which contains a disk of modest size, or it could be thought of as an S0 galaxy with an extraordinarily extended bulge)

[ An interesting comparison with NGC 4435 is NGC 3115. In longer exposures, its bulge component looks to extend out from the centre about as far as the planar disk component. ]
_____________________

[madbadgalaxyman]

Badgalaxyman's 10 favourites, part II
(second instalment of five galaxies)

IC 3476
One of the many weird wonders in the Virgo Cluster

151666

NGC 1097A
The small companion galaxy of NGC 1097.
This one is a real puzzler.
What is the actual structure of this galaxy?
What is its orientation in the sky?
Why is it of such a symmetric morphology, but still so unusual in appearance?

151667

NGC 1332
A very unusual S0 galaxy with a complex internal structure.
S0 galaxies are extremely diverse in appearance, and many of them, like this one, are not "just like a spiral galaxy, but without the dust and gas and luminous stars"

151668

151669

151670

NGC 7727
Has the morphology of a product of the merger of two galaxies.
The "ripples/waves that are not spiral arms, set in a disky structure" are typical of some merger products that might be on the way to becoming an S0 galaxy. (other S0s are formed simply through gas stripping of spirals)

151671

NGC 5078
Nominally an S0 galaxy, but infrared observations show that there is plenty of star formation going on, deep inside this galaxy, which is not however evident at visual wavelengths.
The dust lane structure is complex; warped/bent or tilted, and also the dust lane splits into several streams.
The bulge is absolutely enormous.
Might include some photos of N5078 in another post.

[gregbradley]

Great list, thanks for posting that. NGC2903 and 2403 look good.

Greg.

[glenc]

Thanks Rob, Robert (for a mammoth effort) and Greg.

[gregbradley]

For imaging not visual (probably too dim for visual)
NGC1232 is amazing
NGC1532 is quite good.
NGC2997 is fabulous
NGC1566 is a pretty spiral
NGC6744 is the queen
NGC1365 is another beauty
NGC1097 is unsual
NGC300 is our southern version of M33
NGC1316 irregular elliptcial galaxy is unusual
NGC1187 is also a good one.

We have quite a few great spiral galaxies to image in the Southern Hemisphere but unfortunately a lot of those are not as bright.

Greg.

[madbadgalaxyman]

As promised in "Part II of 10 favourite galaxies, by madbadgalaxyman"
here are some images of NGC 5078, reproduced at various levels of contrast and brightness and at various stretches.

The dust lane morphology is very complex; you can try to convince yourself that it is normal, but it is easier to convince yourself that it is peculiar.

The bulge seems to not really end at any particular galactocentric radius, perhaps simply merging with the halo of this galaxy.

151697
This shows the inner part of this galaxy. It is possible to imagine that there are parallel dust lanes visible here. There is a nice colour contrast between the old stars of NGC 5078 and the blue colour of its dwarf companion.

151698
This shows the outer part of NGC 5078. Note the vast bulge, which could almost be called a halo. The faint arms of the small companion galaxy may be tidal in origin (originating in an interaction between the two galaxies)


151699
This image is an attempt to show both inner and outer parts of NGC 5078. The outer parts of the 'equatorial' dust lane do look distorted or split or bent, in some way.


151700
This image is an attempt to emphasize the planar flat 'disk' component of NGC 5078. Probably, the stellar distribution in the disk is relatively normal, but the dust distribution does show good evidence of being at least moderately unusual (for instance, the equatorial dust lane seems to either split or bend on the far left hand side)

151701
This is an attempt to show zones of equal surface brightness, displayed as lines or annuli. (similar to isophotes) . It is quite evident that the bulge seems to extend way way out into the field, right out to where we would ordinarily think the halo of a galaxy is;
this we cannot really distinguish a spheroidal bulge from a spheroidal halo in NGC 5078......
perhaps the spheroidal component of NGC 5078 should be called a bulge-halo!

[madbadgalaxyman]

G'day Greg,

ngc 2903 is about as distinctive and unusual as a relatively normal spiral galaxy gets. The dust distribution is very chaotic and heavy, yet there is an underlying symmetry to this galaxy. There is actually a long and strong bar in this galaxy, but it is nearly hidden by the masses of dust clouds!! This is also one of my favourites, as it combines the "pretty galaxy" look with a distribution of dust that puts it either just within the bounds of normality or perhaps in the category of "a bit peculiar"

I attach a positive and a negative image of this galaxy.

151706

151707

[Gem]

Lmc smc ngc253 ngc4945 ngc5128 ngc55 m31 ngc1566 ngc5247 m83

[Gem]

Although it depends on imaging or visual and the size of scope!!!

[tonybarry]

Hi Glen,

My list is fairly close to Rob's :-

M83 (Southern Pinwheel)
M104 (Sombrero)
NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)
NGC 4945 in Centaurus

NGC 4565 (Needle Galaxy)
NGC 1566 (Dorado)
NGC 253 (Sculptor Galaxy)

NGC 7582/7590/7599 (bunched three of Grus Quartet)
NGC 1365 in Fornax
IC1459 / IC5264 an elliptical (1459) and edge-on spiral (5264) in close proximity. 5264 is mag 13.6 but the surface brightness allows it to be seen much more easily than one would think.

In a Big Dob, all these DSO are lovely. In camera, most are too big for my setup :-) but still never fail to please.

Regards,
Tony Barry

[glenc]

The NGC and IC catalogues contain in total

10,001 Galaxies
712 Open Clusters
234 Nebulae
130 Planetary nebulae
124 Globular clusters

according to Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke
http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/ngcic/rev2000/Explan.htm
http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/index_e.htm

The LEDA galaxy catalogue contains at least 1.5 million galaxies.
http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr/
http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr/leda/view.html

[glenc]

The count so far is
M83, N253 - 6 votes
M31, M104, N1365, N1566, N4945, N5128 - 4 votes
LMC, SMC, M65/M65/N3628, Grus, N4565 - 3 votes
MW, N55, N1097, N5078 - 2 votes

One vote to each of these, M77
NGCs 300, 1187, 1232, 1316, 1332, 1532
2403, 2903, 2997, 3115, 3256
4424, 4435, 5078, 5247, 5266, 6744, 6771, 7727
IC1459/IC5264, IC3476

[ausastronomer]

In no particular order:-

M83 (Hydra)
M33 (Triangulum)
M31 (Andromeda)
NGC 2997 (Antlia)
NGC 1566 (Dorado)
NGC 2442 (Meathook - Volans)
NGC 1365 (Fornax)
NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)
M104 (Sombrero - Virgo)
NGC 253 (Sculptor)

Cheers
John B

[astroron]

NGC 253
NGC 4594 (M104)
NGC 224 (M31)
NGC 891
Lmc
SMC
NGC 2997
NGC 1559
NGC 6744
NGC 5236 (M83)
Cheers:thumbsup:

[glenc]

Thanks Ron and John.

[glenc]

I plan to combine all this information next week.
See http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=114641 (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=114641)

[glenc]

My 12+ favourite galaxies.

LMC
SMC
M31/32/110
N55
N253
N1365/1380/1399
N1549/1553/1566
M65/66 & N3628
M84/86/87
M104
N4945
M83

[skysurfer]

LMC
SMC
M31+32+110
M51+52 : CVn near the star Al-Qaida (eta UMa) at the end of the handle of the Big Dipper
M81+82 really nice pair, even a 10cm shows details in the M82 (Cigar Galaxy)
M104
M65+66

M81+82 (decl -69) unfortunately not visible in AU unless in Darwin / northern NT and QLD low in the North.
M51+52 (decl -49) should be visible from nearly all AU except southern VIC + TAS).

[Jon]

NGC 1365
M74
NGC 2090 (I know, I know, but it has sentimental value)
NGC 1232
NGC 7619 and the surrounding dozen galaxies in the same field
NGC 253 Sculptor Galaxy
NGC 5128 Centaurus A
NGC 247
M83 Southern Pinwheel
M64 Black Eye Galaxy

[glenc]

Thank you everyone for participating. The results are summarised here.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=114641 (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=114641)