NGC 247 and many tiny friends

[Placidus]

NGC 247, near Diphda, is a spiral that looks like something went right through it and made an 'ole.

Back in 2014 we photographed the main galaxy.

We've now reframed to include the little chain of 5 or 6 distant galaxies off to the right. We've thereby added more luminance and more colour. Grand total 13 hrs of luminance and about 3 hours per channel of colour.

We've processed the image to bring out more of the teensy tiny galaxies far, far away, which now show their form far better than before. (There are at least 58 of them).

The thumbnail is a crop. The full frame is here (https://photos.smugmug.com/Category/Astrophotography-at-Placidus/i-hz5T9vP/0/8d6bd783/O/NGC%20247%20L%2013hrs%20RGB%2011h30 %20total.jpg).

16803 chip in various camera bodies. 20 inch PlaneWave CDK. North is on the right. Full frame is 0.55 sec arc/pixel.

[multiweb]

That's very cool Mike. Details in the galaxy are excellent including the chain of small ones and a few background ones. Superb colors too. To the poolroom. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Placidus]

Thanks muchly Marc. Trish did the driving for all the new data. I'm guilty of the processing.

[peter_4059]

Very nice. I really like how you've framed it with the spectators overlooking the main event.

[Placidus]

Thanks Peter! Nice way of looking at it.

[gregbradley]

A terrific image Mike n Trish.

Greg.

[Placidus]

Thanks Greg, that's kind.

[strongmanmike]

Really nice rendition guys, it's always cool to be able to see inside the nearer galaxies like this, picking out all the star clusters and HII knots and I do love Burbidge's chain, so cool.

Of course, I can't not see Battlestar Galactica (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/158087851/original) though....:P

Mike

[Bassnut]

excellent rendition Mike, the extra galaxies make it special !.

[alpal]

Hi Mike and Trish,
that's the sort of picture most astro photographers
could only dream of taking.
The chain of galaxies makes it even more interesting.



cheers
Allan

[Placidus]

Thanks Mike. We stole the composition from your excellent and inspiring shot. Before that, we didn't even know about the chain. Ours is a tiny bit of a mosaic to get the whole thing into the field of view. Love the Battlestar Galactica shot. Perfect match!





Thanks Fred. The extras make it fun.





Thanks so much Allan. If it ever clears up again, it would be fun to try in H-alpha.

[AdamJL]

what made that "gap" in the main galaxy? Fascinating.

Love seeing the detail in the smaller galaxies. This was a nice view, thanks for sharing.

[Placidus]

Thanks Adam. Here is a paper (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.443.3260W/abstract) that explains the 'gap' or 'void' as being due to a persistent lack of recent star formation. There are only cool old stars there. The paper says the void is consistent with the effects of a dark-matter subhalo. Wikipedia says a subhalo is a semi-independent chunk of dark matter orbiting within the galaxy.