NGC 3077 Small Disrupted Elliptical Galaxy, Luis Romero Ventura

NGC 3077 Small Disrupted Elliptical Galaxy

NGC 3077 Small Disrupted Elliptical Galaxy, Luis Romero Ventura

NGC 3077 Small Disrupted Elliptical Galaxy

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Description

​NGC 3077 looks like a typical, relatively peaceful elliptical galaxy.  It lies about 1​2​.5 million light-years from Earth.

The dark clumps of material scattered around the bright nucleus of NGC 3077 are pieces of wreckage from the galaxy's interactions with its larger neighbours. ​NGC 3077 is a member of the M81 group of galaxies and it resides 12.5 million light-years from Earth.

NGC 3077 was first seen by William Herschel with his 47 cm telescope in England in 1801, when he was close to completing his sky surveys. It is located in the far northern sky in the constellation of Ursa Major (the Great Bear) and forms a triplet with two brighter nearby galaxies, the graceful spiral Messier 81 and the very peculiar and active starburst galaxy Messier 82.

NGC 3077 is also very active and resembles a less dramatic version of Messier 82. Interactions between the three galaxies have stoked the fires of star formation in the core of the galaxy and the brilliant glow of many huge young star clusters at the centre of NGC 3077 dominates the Hubble image. I​f you look closely you can see vast numbers of individual stars in the galaxy across the entire image, as well as several, much more remote, galaxies seen through the much closer NGC 3077.

Telescope: RC16"
Mount: ASA DDM85XL
Reducer: Massimo Riccardi Reducer 0.75x
CMOS: IMX571 C (resolution 0.32"/px)
Total Exposure: 20.3h (248x300")

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Histogram

NGC 3077 Small Disrupted Elliptical Galaxy, Luis Romero Ventura