Highlights of Early March 2011

I.  Galaxy Images

Dick Steinberg

Despite the often hazy conditions, we were able to obtain some interesting images during this dark sky period at Blue Mountain Vista Observatory.

First, a few galaxy images (north is up and east to the left):

A trio of elongated galaxies in Coma Berenices- NGC4216 in the center, with NGC4222 (northeast quadrant) and NGC4206 (southwest quadrant). Many background galaxies are visible, several of which are also elongated.

A galaxy quartet in Leo, the Hickson Compact Galaxy Group #44, with 11th magnitude NGC3190 in the center with its equatorial dust band. The striking barred spiral to the west is 13th magnitude NGC 3187, while NGC3193 is the elliptical at the eastern edge of the group.

Abell 773, a distant galaxy cluster in Ursa Major, about 3 billion light years away. Galaxies are visible beyond magnitude 22, according to the NED database as accessed via the Aladin Sky Atlas, v7.0 .  The highlighted galaxy (SDSS J091754.97+514247.4) has a redshift of 0.264 and a 22.4 magnitude apparent luminosity, as shown in the view with Aladin..

Abell 2218 in Draco, another galaxy cluster, known to contain about 10,000 galaxies. Distance about 2 billion light-years.

Another early March image set will follow soon.

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Hyperion 317mm f/8 corrected Cassegrain - Paramount ME - Apogee U16M binned 2x2 - 2048x2048 pixels - 1.46 arcsec/pixel - FOV 50 arcmin square - acquisition and processing: MaxIm DL 5.14 - automation: CCD Commander 1.6.33 - piggy-back guider Orion 80mm f/11.4 + SBIG ST8 camera