Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Lynx (Lyn)  ·  Contains:  NGC 2543
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NGC 2543, Gary Imm
NGC 2543, Gary Imm

NGC 2543

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NGC 2543, Gary Imm
NGC 2543, Gary Imm

NGC 2543

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Description

This galaxy is a beautiful grand design spiral located 110 million light years away in the constellation of Lynx at a declination of +36 degrees.  It is bright, at magnitude 11, and spans 3 arc-minutes in our apparent view which corresponds to a diameter of 100,000 light years.  Our view of this galaxy lies midway between face-on and edge-on. 

A star is superimposed over the galaxy, just to the right of the core, making it look like this galaxy has 2 cores.

I love so many things about this galaxy – the color contrast between the blue arms and the yellow inner region, the graceful sweeping arms which extend 270 degrees around the core, the bright blue star clouds, and the extended star stream plumes at the end of each arm. 

Also fascinating to me is the short, faint star stream just above and left of this galaxy, separated from the main galaxy by about 50,000 light years.  The plume from the near arm of NGC 2543 is slightly more extended to that side, perhaps due to some interaction.  The small galaxy towards the bottom of the page is at the same distance away as NGC 2543, so perhaps all 3 of these objects have had a past relationship.

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