I was disappointed when I last imaged this galaxy with my much longer focal length EdgeHD 11. That image is
here. The galaxy appeared dim and without much color. The RASA is not a scope for most galaxies but NGC 300 is large enough that I decided to give it a try in order to collect more light.
This object is a magnitude 8 spiral galaxy located just 6.5 million light years away in the southern constellation of Sculptor at a declination of -38 degrees. It spans 22 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to an actual diameter of 50,000 light years. In my experience, galaxies this small in actual size normally don’t have such a defined spiral shape, but perhaps we are seeing structure in this one because it is so close to us.
Although the galaxy looks to be face-on to us, it actually is is inclined at an angle of over 40°. The galaxy has two distinct primary arms which form a clear "S" shape, as well as two more arms which are not as well defined. Similar to the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), numerous HII regions are present throughout the galaxy, although they do not show up as strongly as they do in M33.
The Catalog of 1000 Galaxies calls this the Many Grains Galaxy, which refers to the granular visual appearance caused by the many dispersed star formation regions.
Comments