Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Draco (Dra)  ·  Contains:  NGC 5905  ·  NGC 5908
NGC5905 and NGC5908 - A Nice Pair, Jason Guenzel
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NGC5905 and NGC5908 - A Nice Pair

NGC5905 and NGC5908 - A Nice Pair, Jason Guenzel
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NGC5905 and NGC5908 - A Nice Pair

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These two demonstrate just how different spiral galaxies can look. Spirals come in many shapes and sizes and on top of that, are always viewed from different angles.

NGC5905 is a barred spiral viewed nearly face on. It is defined by a central bar that is perpetually recycling matter into new stars, seen here with a golden hue. This bar is wrapped with spindly, somewhat distorted arms containing massive stars shining a bright blue. The spaces in-between these main features are loaded with a more ruddy and diffuse cloud of older stars.

In a stark contrast, NGC5908 is a lenticular galaxy. It is somewhat of a hybrid between an elliptical and spiral-type. It has a coherent central disk that is capped by a dark dust lane. This is sitting within an enormous halo of aged stars, giving rise to the overall yellow hue. To my surprise, a bit of blue exists in the halo, making this one a little different. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

These two are true galactic neighbors and lie somewhere around 140 million light years away toward the constellation Draco. The background is littered with galaxies ... including one over 11 billion light years distant. I’ll try to point that out in a subsequent post. We are small.

Enjoy... and let me know what you think in the comments

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