Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Antlia (Ant)  ·  Contains:  NGC 2997
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NGC 2997 in Antlia, Bruce Rohrlach
NGC 2997 in Antlia
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NGC 2997 in Antlia

Acquisition type: Electronically-Assisted Astronomy (EAA, e.g. based on a live video feed)
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 2997 in Antlia, Bruce Rohrlach
NGC 2997 in Antlia
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 2997 in Antlia

Acquisition type: Electronically-Assisted Astronomy (EAA, e.g. based on a live video feed)

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Acquisition details

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Description

Found this little beauty on Saturday night – although it’s not exactly small with an estimated 100 billion stars (our own Milky Way galaxy has around 100-400 billion suns). NGC 2997 is a grand design spiral galaxy in the constellation of Antlia, inclined at around 45 degrees to our line of sight, and located about 39.8 million light years away. A grand design spiral galaxy is one with very prominent and well-defined spiral arms (as opposed to multi-arm and flocculent spirals which have subtler structural features). NGC 2997 has beautiful spiral dust lanes that are silhouetted against its yellowish core, of which I have just managed to capture 2 of them wrapping spirally around the bright core of the galaxy.

The two very prominent spiral arms are peppered with regions of concentrated ionized hydrogen that are similar to large star-forming regions of our own galaxy. Within these gas clouds hot blue stars are being born that give most of the bluish light to the outer spiral arms. Older yellowish stars concentrate close to the core of the galaxy, giving it the bright and warm central glow. NGC 2997 is receding from us at around 1100 km/second.

Exposure details:

Luminescence: 120x30secs (60 mins) Bin 1x1

Red: 90x30secs (45 mins) Bin 2x2

Green: 90x30secs (45 mins) Bin 2x2

Blue: 90x30secs (45 mins) Bin 2x2

Total exposure – 3 hours 15 mins.

Sensor Temp -10 Celcius

Telescope: Skywatcher 200mm/f5

Camera: ZWO ASI1600mm pro

No Bias/Flat/Dark frames, No guiding.

Polar align: Polemaster.

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NGC 2997 in Antlia, Bruce Rohrlach