An uncommon one in Sculptor

[Paul Haese]

On my list of galaxies is this one (NGC134). It is not a commonly seen galaxy in this forum but there are a few examples of it on the web. Quite a few are spectacular indeed.

This image is taken with the AG12 and is an integration of 8.4 hours of LRGB data.

There are many galaxies seen within the field. NGC134 is a barred spiral which has what appears to be some interaction going on with star streams going away from the main arms. NGC 131 is just to the left of the galaxy but that is not thought to be the cause of the interaction. Some of the other galaxies present all states of morphology of galaxies within the field. There are some very distant and red shifted galaxies to be seen.

The bright patch to the lower left is the result of a very bright star just outside of the field of view. It is a variable star of mag 4.8. The diffraction spike going across the field was unavoidable unfortunately with this composition.

Click here (http://paulhaese.net/NGC134.html) for larger image

[LewisM]

Nice Paul.

The 10+ background galaxies make it more interesting too.

[strongmanmike]

That's a nice capture Paul, looks like a mini NGC 253 :)

Mike

[astroron]

Nice image Paul,I too like the background galaxies
very aesthetically pleasing. :)
More like NGC7331 Mike Sidonio;)
BTW I have just been discussing galaxies with tidal tails to nowhere with David Eicher editor of "Astronomy magazine".
A paper produced by David Martinez Delgado makes very interesting reading.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1804.03330.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1tVDv6UwE xD5SELFg2qMXQqbvzOXpMH0GqoX4uc2b10s 772RJsjL5OpF8
Cheers:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Indeed it does too :thumbsup: my comparison with NGC 253 was mainly due to the apparent rising star/dust filaments Paul referred to and 253 is well known for these features.

Mike

[astroron]

Very astute. ;) :) Lol
Cheers:thumbsup:
PS
Mike, was NGC253 the galaxy you found a companion to?
Cheers

[Placidus]

That image was a joy to explore.

Beautiful colour in the main beastie.

We can see what we guess are the rising streamers too.

[strongmanmike]

Yes :)

[astroron]

Thanks:thanx:

[markas]

Nice shot, Paul. Lots of other galaxies in the background add interest. (do I detect a satellite track on the higher res image?)


Mark

[codemonkey]

Nice one Paul! :-)

I did this one last year with ok results, but yours is deeper. In mine you can't really see more than a hint of the background galaxies, but yours does a better job with that. There's an amazing CHART32 image that got an APOD in 2016 which shows the background is absolutely littered with little galaxies.

I'm on some other targets at the moment, but you've inspired me to add some more data to last year's effort once I'm done with those, should the sky gods agree.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Mike, I agree it does look a little like NGC253. Though I was not looking at the streamers coming up from the disk. I meant the streams along the arm plain right and left of the galaxy. It is just faint but can be seen.



Thanks for the link Ron, and the suggestion of another imaging target. ;) Mind you it is bit far north for me.



Thanks Mike, I noted the streamers early on wondered what other surprises it held. The tidal streams were an interesting surprise.



Thanks Mark but that is a diffraction spike from the out of field star. I mentioned this in my post. :)



Thanks Lee, perhaps your image was the reason why I put it on my list. I did wonder why I had it there. Many times I add objects when I see someone image them here. So you are probably the impetus to me imaging it. It's all circular. ;)

The Chart 32 image is spectacular, but you get that at altitude and with great seeing.

[alpal]

Hi Paul,
a great image with so many other galaxies as well.
At 150,000 light-years across it's a large galaxy too.
It does look so much like NGC 253 but with the bonus of a tidal tail -
that you have captured.


cheers
Allan

[astroron]

BTW this paper produced by David Martinez Delgado makes very interesting reading.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1804.03330.pdf...s772RJsjL5OpF8
Is the author of the paper that our own Mike Sidonio is included in in the discovery of NGC 253-dw2 a dwarf companion of NGC 253.
Paper here.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1512.03815v2.pdf
Cheers:thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Nice one Paul. I like the tidal stream down the bottom that you captured.

The resemblance to the Sculptor Galaxy is amazing.

Greg.

[Ryderscope]

Uncommon maybe but charming to be sure. A wonderful field very nicely presented :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Really nice details and colours. A lot going on in that fov too. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
I don't mind at all off field star glow or even diffraction spikes. That's what makes the shot real.

[Geoff45]

It’s a nice sharp shot Paul. I did this one a while back and was surprised at how few pictures there were for comparison purposes. It’s big, bright and forgotten, maybe because it’s too close to 253. A bit like NGC362, which is a nice glob, but passed over in favour of 47Tuc

[Slawomir]

A beautiful image Paul - lovely colours and fantastic detail. It's great to see your 12" performing so well :thumbsup:

It's kind of cool that the diffraction spike from the out of field bright star so well overlaps with one of the brighter stars in the image.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys for the comments.



I put it down to exactly that Geoff. The brighter glossies get looked at first and then the lesser ones get some attention later. Afterall 253 is huge by comparison in terms of apparent size.



Well I have actually reverted back to the GPU temporarily. I don't think the glass of the Wynne is that sharp so I have gone back to the GPU until new adapters arrive for a paracorr type 2. Images appear sharper with the GPU and don't require a lot of sharpening to get similar results. Once the adapters arrive for the paracorr I'll be using that almost exclusively, assuming the paracorr is better than the GPU. In any event I am imaging with the AG12 as well as the GSO RC12. Lots of work being done on every clear night and that is what the objective was when I bought each scope.