NGC1512. Ring Galaxy in Horologium

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

I got one clear night over the last new moon period at Wiruna and managed to grab this one. Quite pleased overall, but it's a quite noisy. I had to overstretch it a bit to bring out the faint arms.


http://www.astrobin.com/279619/B/?nc=user
larger view here
http://www.astrobin.com/full/279619/B/


Have a look at the inverted B&W pic to get a better view of the faint arms.



Telescope: 12.5" Plane wave
Camera:FLI 16803.---This is a great camera. I still managed to get to -30 even with the hot weather we've been having.
Mount: AP900GTO
Filters: Astronomik LRGB, Series 2
Exposure: 4.8 hours
FOV: 33' x 30' (cropped)
Processing: PixInsight


INFO

NGC 1512 is a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter of about 70,000 light-years situated in the Dorado Group of galaxies in the far southern constellation of Horologium. It is about 30 million light-years away from us.
The galaxy displays a double ring structure, with one ring around the galactic nucleus and another further out in the main disk. Both rings are visible in these pictures.
The long spiral arms of this galaxy are very dim in visible light, but they emit a great amount of ultraviolet light as shown in this image
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_15...12_nasajpl.jpg
The faint arms are best seen in the inverted view, labelled as the original image.
These faint spiral arms consist mainly of young hot stars shining brightly at ultraviolet wavelengths.
To the lower left of NGC 1512 lies the small elliptical galaxy NGC 1510. The two galaxies are currently separated by a mere 68,000 light-years. A spiral arm from NGC 1512 appears to be wrapped around the smaller galaxy, which is evidence that NGC1512 is currently being distorted by strong gravitational interactions with NGC 1510.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Great galaxy this one Geoff, looks good, that wide sweeping thin arm is unique really, bluudy faint though huh? really needs heaps of exposure.

Mike

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

Wow, that is a special galaxy well photographed. Both the pseudo-ring structure and the faint spider's leg upper arm are very fine.

[clive milne]

The inverted b&w version elicited a stirring of my loins... I like it very much.

[RickS (Rick)]

Nice catch, Geoff!

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Good one Geoff. The inverted image is a good idea as well.

[astronobob (Bob)]

Grouse Target Jeoff, Double halos and double sets of spiraling arms
Fascinating

[gregbradley]

That's a very interesting galaxy. Nicely done.

Greg.

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Great galaxy this one Geoff, looks good, that wide sweeping thin arm is unique really, bluudy faint though huh? really needs heaps of exposure.

Mike

Thanks Mike. Yes indeedy do, it certainly needs more exposure. I had a look at your image here of the same object and I notice you have a lot more detail in the halo around 1512, as well as bringing out a nice halo around 1510

Originally Posted by Placidus

Wow, that is a special galaxy well photographed. Both the pseudo-ring structure and the faint spider's leg upper arm are very fine.

Thanks Mike and Trish

Originally Posted by clive milne

The inverted b&w version elicited a stirring of my loins... I like it very much.

Thanks Clive. Just wait until you see what more data (hopefully) can do

Originally Posted by RickS

Nice catch, Geoff!

Thanks Rick

Originally Posted by Ryderscope

Good one Geoff. The inverted image is a good idea as well.

Thanks Rod. Yes, it really makes detail much easier to pick out.

Originally Posted by astronobob

Grouse Target Jeoff, Double halos and double sets of spiraling arms
Fascinating

Thanks Bob. Yep, very interesting subject. I don't actually remember how I got onto it, because it doesn't really feature in the "things to image" list

Originally Posted by gregbradley

That's a very interesting galaxy. Nicely done.

Greg.

Thanks Greg

[DJT (David)]

Lovely image Geoff, interesting following the faint arms and how they are interacting with each other.

Well done

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Very interesting and nicely presented object

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by DJT

Lovely image Geoff, interesting following the faint arms and how they are interacting with each other.

Well done

Originally Posted by Slawomir

Very interesting and nicely presented object

Thanks Suavi and David. The arms are even more interesting in ultraviolet. See here for instance

[multiweb (Marc)]

Beautiful shot Geoff. That spiral arm keeps going.

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Beautiful shot Geoff. That spiral arm keeps going.

Thanks Marc. The spiral arms are even more impressive in the ultraviolet. I'm sure it's all due to the interaction with 1510.

[p1taylor]

very nice galaxy.

peter