Fornax Dwarf in perspective

[marco (Marco Lorenzi)]

Dear all, below is the link to last addition to my galleries:

The Fornax Dwarf

The Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal is an elliptical dwarf galaxy in the constellation Fornax that was discovered in 1938 by Harlow Shapley from South Africa, shortly after he discovered the Sculptor dwarf, which image I posted a while ago. The galaxy is a satellite of the Milky Way and contains six globular clusters; the largest, NGC 1049, was discovered before the galaxy itself.

Like the Sculptor dwarf, this galaxy has an extremely low surface brightness yet covers a large area of sky. To put things in the right perspective I created a comparison image with both the Fornax and Sculptor dwarfs along an image of the full moon reduced to the same scale. I believe this will surprise more than somebody..

Sculptor and Fornax dwarfs in perspective

Hope you will like this image a bit out the bitten path. LRGB collecting about 10 hours of light..

Clear skies
Marco

[jase (Jason)]

Nicely done Marco. You've brought out the subtle bean shaped structure very well. Not an easy target with its low surface brightness. I recall imaging this target many years ago with the FSQ. There is a bucket load of integrated flux neb in the area which adds a pleasing dimension. I like the comparison image too.

[RickS (Rick)]

Very cool, Marco, and the size comparison certainly surprised me!

Cheers,
Rick.

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

Marco, both images are spectacular. I can see that they require a large field and long exposure. Thanks for the explanation about their very high mass to light ratio. I understand that helps distinguish them from a large globular cluster, which would contain negligible dark matter.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Great deep work Marco and interesting presentation, you've managed to make what could easily be a rather boring subject, truly shine

Mike

[gregbradley]

Great work Marco.

Greg.

[Rex]

Another great image Marco. Well done mate.

[Paul Haese]

Awesome field Marco, good colour and heaps of little galaxies to check out in the surrounding field. That is cool you also captured the globs with it. It adds perspective to the size of the galaxy.

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Great stuff Marco. Lots of pinpoint stars in those galaxies and very interesting to see all those globs.
Geoff

[Tony_ (Tony)]

Great images Marco!

Apparently this is one of the few dwarf galaxies that has GCs. Doesn't look like an easy target - low surface brightness.

The Sculptor dwarf reminds me of a globular cluster. NGC 5139 is thought by some to be the core of a dwarf galaxy.

Tony.

[marco (Marco Lorenzi)]

Originally Posted by jase

Nicely done Marco. You've brought out the subtle bean shaped structure very well. Not an easy target with its low surface brightness. I recall imaging this target many years ago with the FSQ. There is a bucket load of integrated flux neb in the area which adds a pleasing dimension. I like the comparison image too.

Thanks Jase for the appreciation, in fact target is not so easy due to the low surface brightness even if it is quite manageable..

Originally Posted by RickS

Very cool, Marco, and the size comparison certainly surprised me!

Cheers,
Rick.

Thanks Rick

Originally Posted by Placidus

Marco, both images are spectacular. I can see that they require a large field and long exposure. Thanks for the explanation about their very high mass to light ratio. I understand that helps distinguish them from a large globular cluster, which would contain negligible dark matter.

Thanks Mike, my understanding is the same as yours about the dark matter contained even if I am not an expert on this..

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Great deep work Marco and interesting presentation, you've managed to make what could easily be a rather boring subject, truly shine

Mike

Thanks Mike, in fact these galaxies are not at all spectacular even if they are charming since so much different from the majority of other galaxies around..

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Great work Marco.

Greg.

Thanks Greg!

Originally Posted by Rex

Another great image Marco. Well done mate.

Thanks Rex

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Awesome field Marco, good colour and heaps of little galaxies to check out in the surrounding field. That is cool you also captured the globs with it. It adds perspective to the size of the galaxy.

Thanks Paul, happy you liked it!

Originally Posted by ghsmith45

Great stuff Marco. Lots of pinpoint stars in those galaxies and very interesting to see all those globs.
Geoff

Thanks Geoff

Originally Posted by Tony_

Great images Marco!

Apparently this is one of the few dwarf galaxies that has GCs. Doesn't look like an easy target - low surface brightness.

The Sculptor dwarf reminds me of a globular cluster. NGC 5139 is thought by some to be the core of a dwarf galaxy.

Tony.

Thanks Tony, interesting addendum the note about NGC5139, I didn't know that..

Clear skies
Marco

[topheart]

Very nice image. I love the off the beaten track choice of target.

Very well done!

Thanks!
Tim

[marco (Marco Lorenzi)]

Originally Posted by topheart

Very nice image. I love the off the beaten track choice of target.

Very well done!

Thanks!
Tim

Thanks you Tim! I love too out-of-the-bitten-track targets

Clear skies
Marco