Unusual Galaxy NGC1291 is it a spiral or elliptical?

[gregbradley]

One of a series of 5 galaxies I have been imaging from my dark site.

This is another rarely imaged galaxy and its quite unusual. Elliptically shaped rings, a barred type core it seems part elliptical, part ring galaxy and a hint of spiral galaxy. It must have had interesting morphology forces over time.

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/154052172/large

Greg.

[nebulosity.]

This is a fantastic image Greg, very unusual galaxy.

Jo

[gregbradley]

Thanks very much Jo. I was happy with how it turned out. I think I got some good seeing there as well. Its really a mixed bag with a hint of a spiral arm near the top and the clearly formed ring structure which is elliptical, the barred core yet the whole thing is very elliptical in shape.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Ahhh, sooo, who worked out how to reduce star bloat then, huh?? ;) - looks ok.

Great result Greg, on a cool ring (?) galaxy...better get Robert onto this one :thumbsup:

Wonder what the other 4 galaxies are :question:...just so I don't image them at the same time :lol:

Mike

[SkyViking]

What a nice rare galaxy and a great image of it there Greg, it shows a lot of interesting and weird detail. Seems like some kind of ring galaxy but then again not quite, very unique!

The stars look very slightly ringed, maybe a sharpening artefact? But a top image for sure, thanks for the view! :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Thanks Mike. No I haven't done anything different yet. I am planning to make a baffle for the camera as that may help. I know it helped with the Apogee U16M.

I forget what those other galaxies are now??? No need to worry your image will most likely be better than mine anyway!

Greg

[RickS]

Great result, Greg. That is a weird one!

[strongmanmike]

Oh ok, the stars looked tightened that was all :shrug:

Ah come now ;) not worried at all mate, I just recon it's better if we aren't doubling up for the IIS viewers out there, together we could cover a lot of sky without repeating...just share out the good'uns, I for one like seeing new galaxies when possible :thumbsup:

How was the doco shoot?

Mike

[gregbradley]

Its very unusual. Also quite bright. Thanks Rick.



I just did some tweaking of the stars and they look nicer now.
I took a number of 10 minute test shots to scout out potential imaging targets.
NGC1316 (done before so I may add some CDK data I have), NGC1808, NGC1055. Also M74 although its low and I've only gotten an hour a half plus some NGC2997 (I'll be combining that with some CDK data since I've done it before). It could be handy to get TEC180 dark sky luminance and CDK colour or combine older archived data from the CDK. NGC1055 will be a CDK target so will NGC1808. The doco was great and the boys had a lot of fun. Ruth put on some great food so they were well looked after. There's an interacting pair NGC1253 I'll look at with the CDK as its small and dim.

I plan to make a baffle for the Trius and see if that helps. You can see the CCDsurrounds and circuitry so there are plenty of bright parts there that could be causing reflection halos. Your system is different in 2 ways - F3.8 meaning a steeper light angle hitting the CCD so reflections may be going off away from the image more and different filters. Terry says there was no difference to H694 and Trius in the CCD chamber and that the CCD window is anto reflection coated inside and out.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

All great stuff Greg, Mike and Robin must be having a ball doing this, they had a lot of success (and food and beer) here too...can't wait to see the final cut (which will likely be a very hard job for them deciding what to leave in and out) :thumbsup:

Mike

[LucasB]

What a strange little galaxy which has been very nicely processed to show it at it's best:thumbsup:
Lucas

[gregbradley]

Thanks very much Lucas. It is also quite a bright galaxy so its a good target.

Again this galaxy is rarely imaged which is a bit surprising given its brightness.

Greg.

[rogerg]

Neat galaxy, love hat smooth detail :)

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Hi Greg,

That's very nicely done!:thumbsup:

Good detail, like the subtle colour too.
NGC 1291 is also NGC 1269, don't know why?
I imaged this back in 2012, and as you say quite bright. Comes up well even with a DSLR.

Cheers,

Justin.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Roger. It did turn out better than some of the other galaxy images. Its a brighter object.



Thanks Justin. Its brightness is one reason I picked it..

Greg.

[multiweb]

That's a beaute shot. How did you get those stars so tight?

[gregbradley]

Thanks Marc.

That's pretty much how they looked in the downloads. I realised after the first night that the TEC180 in summer needs to be refocused a lot in the first hour and then its stable. The first series had some soft downloads because I did not realise that at first.

I think also there was some very good seeing there as well.

Greg.

[multiweb]

Doesn't matter how hard you try, seeing is king hey? :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Too true. Regular focusing on a cooling refractor or compound scope for that matter is important as well.

Greg.

[E_ri_k]

Very cool Greg :) Nice halo around the core.
Erik

[mithrandir]

The only entries I found in Visier with a Hubble classification list it as a spiral. One has SO-a (HYPERLEDA) and the other SB (Catalog of Southern Ringed Galaxies).

[gregbradley]

Thanks Erik. Its an unusual halo for sure.



There is a slight spiral arm up the top. I suppose that makes it a spiral of sorts.

Greg.

[Ross G]

A great looking galaxy photo Greg.

Very sharp and detailed.

A new object for me.

Ross.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Ross.

Greg.

[Bassnut]

Excellent Greg, and different. Tight as too.

[Nico13]

Very nice Greg, it's surprising what's out in the south some very interesting little Galaxy's.
That's one I hadn't picked up on and as you say a good for its brightness.
Thanks for showing it.

[David Fitz-Henr]

That's a great image of a very unusual galaxy Greg! What's the image scale?

[gregbradley]

Thanks Fred. I haven't gotten to the root if this large bright star thing yet. I think I was lucky there weren't any real bright stars in this field. I am goign to put a baffle on the CCD window next.



It is an interesting galaxy. I found a couple of others that are interesting as well for future imaging.



Thanks David.

.74arc sec/pixel. Its a good match to the seeing there.

Greg.