Pictures: Galaxies
Located in Constellation Sculptor (the Sculptor), this spiral galaxy is about 11 million light years away, and is about 70,000 light years across. Visual magnitude is about 7.6, and it has an apparent size of 30 arc minutes by 6.9 arc minutes. Note that during the red filtered exposure used to make this color image, a satellite, meteor, or other object passed through the upper right corner of the picture.
Located in Constellation Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dogs), the Whirlpool is a face-on spiral galaxy whose arms are stirred up by the pull of its small companion NGC 5195. Visual magnitude 8.4, about 23 million light years away. Camera: ST-2000, May 2023.
Located in Constellation Cetus (the Whale), this spiral galaxy is about 47 million light years away. Visual magnitude is about 8.9, and has an apparent size of 8.2 arc minutes by 7.3 arc minutes. The star like center gives it a Seyfert classification, meaning that it has an unusually active core, fed by a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.
Located in Constellation Triangulum (the Triangle), NGC 672 has a visual magnitude of 10.9, and has an apparent size of 4.5 arc minutes by 1.5 arc minutes. Near it is the smaller, fainter IC 1727 galaxy with an apparent size of 3 arc minutes by 1.5 arc minutes with a visual magnitude of 11.5
Located in Constellation Pegasus (the Winged Horse), this bar galaxy has a visual magnitude of 10.8, and has an apparent size of 4 arc minutes by 3.1 arc minutes.
Located in Constellation Pegasus (the Winged Horse), this edge-on spiral galaxy has a visual magnitude of 10.6, and has an apparent size of 6 arc minutes by 2.5 arc minutes.
Located in Constellation Andromeda (the Princess), this famous spiral galaxy is so large that a mosaic of several CCD pictures would be needed to show all of it. The apparent size is 185 arc minutes by 75 arc minutes. For comparison, the moon's apparent size is about 30 arc minutes. The Andromeda galaxy has a visual magnitude of 3.4 and surface brightness of 13.6. It is 2.5 million light years away, and 150,000 light years across in size.
Located in Constellation Triangulum (the Triangle), this spiral galaxy is about 2.7 million light years away, and is about 50,000 light years across, and several billion years old. Visual magnitude is about 5.7, and has an apparent size of 67 arc minutes by 41.5 arc minutes. Note the unusually large number of young blue stars. Also, the galaxy's light is spread out so evenly that its effective surface brightness is a rather faint 14.2
Located in Constellation Triangulum (the Triangle), a face-on spiral about 2.7 million light years away, visual magnitude 5.7. Large and faint, so it shows much better on the camera than in the eyepiece. Camera: ST-2000, January 2024.
Located in Constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear), an edge-on starburst galaxy about 12 million light years away, visual magnitude 8.4, forming new stars about ten times faster than our own galaxy. Camera: ST-2000, February 2024.
Located in Constellation Cetus (the Whale), this bar galaxy has a visual magnitude of about 11.6, and has an apparent size of 3.3 arc minutes by 1.4 arc minutes.