Image of the day 07/13/2018

This is NGC 4945, a large barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Centaurus. It is the second brightest galaxy in the subgroup centred on Centaurus-A with an apparent magnitude of 9.3, and an apparent size of 20’.0 X 3’.8. NGC 4945 is about 13 million light-years distant, and is almost the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Both X-Ray and infrared observations have shown unusual high energetic emissions and star formation at its core. Like all happy galaxies, a super-massive black hole is thought to exist at its centre.

The data was a little tricky to work with, as it comes from 6 calibration streams (multiple cameras, all STL's), spanning about three years. Needless to say, it was a challenge to piece together.

When I first combined the data, it had a distinct mauve and dirty brown look about it. This was really unusual I thought. No matter what I did, it was present, so I followed the numbers. I managed to collect a reasonable amount of Ha in the process, and decided to add that into the mix as well. The Ha filter allows emission data to be easily identified. Look for the pinks and reds throughout the galaxy to identify these areas.

Ha 26 X 1200 Binned 1x1 - 8.66 hours
Lum 34 X 900 Binned 1x1 - 8.5 hours
Red 15 X 450 Binned 2X2 - 1.8 hours
Green 14 X 450 Binned 2X2 - 1.7 hours
Blue 16 X 450 Binned 2X2 - 2.0 hours
Total hours 22.66

Instruments Used:
10 Inch RCOS fl 9.1
Astro Physics AP-900 Mount
SBIG STL 11000m
FLI Filter Wheel
Astrodon Lum, Red, Green, Blue Filters
Baader Planetarium H-alpha 7nm Narrowband-Filter

Disclaimer: All data is pure end-to-end own work from equipment through acquisition through processing.