Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Volans (Vol)  ·  Contains:  NGC 2434  ·  NGC 2442
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Meathook Galaxy NGC2442 and NGC2443, Göran Nilsson
Powered byPixInsight

The Meathook Galaxy NGC2442 and NGC2443

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Meathook Galaxy NGC2442 and NGC2443, Göran Nilsson
Powered byPixInsight

The Meathook Galaxy NGC2442 and NGC2443

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

NGC 2442 and NGC 2443 are two parts of a single intermediate spiral galaxy, commonly known as the Meathook Galaxy or the Cobra and Mouse. It is about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Volans, and was discovered by Sir John Herschel on December 23, 1834. Associated with this galaxy is HIPASS J0731-69, a cloud of gas devoid of any stars. It is likely that the cloud was torn loose from NGC 2442 by a companion. All according to Wikipedia.

There are several other galaxies in the image, some with rather odd designations. To the left (east) of The Meathook Galaxy is a group of galaxies, the big one being ESO 59-11. The galaxy near the bottom left is ESO 59-10. The small faint galaxy just above The Meathook Galaxy is LEDA 100030. Half of the elliptical galaxy NGC2434 can be seen at the top of the image.

Since I have no astro darkness at my own obsy I take the opportunity to process some sothern hemisphere data. This is LRGB data from Telescope Live at the El Sauce hosting facility at 1500m elevation in Río Hurtado, Coquimbo Region, Chile. RGB data contains 114 x 5 min red, 113 x 5 min green and 99 x 5 min blue. Lum is 116 x 5 min min.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

The Meathook Galaxy NGC2442 and NGC2443, Göran Nilsson