NGC 7217 is a gas-poor system whose main features are the presence of several rings of stars concentric to its nucleus.

1.The outermost ring being of the most prominent and the one that features most of the gas and star formation of this galaxy

2.Several other rings inside the innermost discovered with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope; a feature that suggests NGC 7217's central regions have suffered several starbursts. 

3.There is also a very large and massive spheroid that extends beyond its disk.

Other noteworthy features this galaxy has are the presence of a number of stars rotating in the opposite direction around the galaxy's center to most of them and two distinct stellar populations: one of intermediate age on its innermost regions and a younger, metal-poor version on its outermost ones.

It has been suggested these features were caused by a merger with another galaxy and, in fact, computer simulations show that NGC 7217 could have been a large lenticular galaxy that merged with one or two smaller gas-rich ones of late Hubble type becoming the spiral galaxy we see today.

However currently the galaxy is isolated in space, with no nearby major companions. 

More recent research presents a somewhat different scenario in which NGC 7217's massive bulge and halo would have been formed in a merger and the disk formed later (and is still growing) either accreting gas from the intergalactic medium or smaller gas-rich galaxies, or most likely from a previously existing reserve. [Source: Wikipedia].

CAPTURE Information:

The image was captured with the iOptron CEM120 mount , the venerable Meade 12"LX200 SCT, and my Atik 383L+ mono CCD at F7.16 (2182mm FL). Image subs were taken through Astronomik's filters Lum, R, G and B.

All subs were done at 1x1 bin, -10C, at 10 minutes each.

IMAGE information -- 2020

Lum (600s): 40 subs (6.67hr) on Aug 12th, 17th and 18th.

Red (600s): 19 subs (3.17hr) on Aug 12th, 17th and 18th.

Green(600s): 20 subs (3.33hr) on Aug 12th, 17th and 18th.

Blue (600s): 19 subs (3.17hr) on Aug 12th, 17th and 18th.

Processing was done with PixInsight, following (for the most part) kayronjm's tutorial of Feb. 24th from several years back. Only Lum was used to develop the Luminance image.

R, G and B were collected for the color mix.

North is up (pretty sure, or not), and this is a very slight crop due to the various movement of different subs.

COMMENTS:

This is a small galaxy, but an interesting one due to its shape. Overall, I was pleased with the outcome.