Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Draco (Dra)  ·  Contains:  NGC 5906  ·  NGC 5907
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NGC5907 and NGC5906, Splinter Galaxy in Draco, Mau_Bard
NGC5907 and NGC5906, Splinter Galaxy in Draco, Mau_Bard

NGC5907 and NGC5906, Splinter Galaxy in Draco

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC5907 and NGC5906, Splinter Galaxy in Draco, Mau_Bard
NGC5907 and NGC5906, Splinter Galaxy in Draco, Mau_Bard

NGC5907 and NGC5906, Splinter Galaxy in Draco

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Description

1st Update
Update of the original image of NGC5907 with new data taken on 11 and 30 April 2023.

Notwithstanding the clear improvement compared to the original take, still the conditions (one night with high moon) were not enough to capture the extremely faint matter arches that encircle the galaxy on the left (east) side.

I like very much the uncountable very distant galaxies in the background, for instance the ones placed on the line defined by PGC2528957 and PGC2528429 in direction south west (see annotated wide field image).

2nd Update (Revisions O and P)
Second update with additional data for total 17.5 hours exposure in better average observational conditions (overall recording days: 4, 5, 11, 30 April, 19, 20, 21 May 2023).
Again the tidal wave is not visible, and there is only a marginal improvement.

NGC5907 and the mysterious NGC5906

NGC 5907, also known as Knife Edge Galaxy or Splinter Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy located approximately 50 million light years from Earth, discovered by William Herschel in 1788.
It is considered a member of the NGC 5866 (M102) Group.

NGC 5906 and NGC 5907 are sometimes confused. It appears that NGC 5906 is actually a knot in NGC 5907, although occasionally the whole galaxy also goes under the same number.

NGC 5907 has an anomalously low metallicity and few detectable giant stars, being apparently composed almost entirely of dwarf stars.

NGC 5907 has long been considered a prototypical example of a spiral in relative isolation, but then some new observations raised some doubts about its loneliness.
It became famous in 2008 when an image taken by R Jay GaBany showed tidal streams wrapped around it, which may represent the dying orbits of a dwarf galaxy that then became absorbed into the main galaxy long time ago. These stars streams may orbit as much as 150 thousand pc from the galaxy. This may also be the way that polar ring galaxies form. Our own Milky Way galaxy contains similar star streams that are thought to be the remnants of recently ingested dwarf galaxies showing galactic cannibalism is still alive.
Additionally, recent interactions seem to have caused NGC 5907 to have a warped disk. The warping galaxy is thought to be the small dwarf galaxy PGC54419, visible in the picture here just above and right to the main galaxy.

Redshift    0.002225
Radial velocity    667 ± 3 km/s
Distance    53.5 ± 8.1 Mly, (16.4 ± 2.5 Mpc)
Other designations: H II.759, GC 4087, h 1917, UGC 09801, PGC 054470, MCG +09-25-040

Comments

Revisions

  • NGC5907 and NGC5906, Splinter Galaxy in Draco, Mau_Bard
    Original
  • NGC5907 and NGC5906, Splinter Galaxy in Draco, Mau_Bard
    M
  • NGC5907 and NGC5906, Splinter Galaxy in Draco, Mau_Bard
    N
  • NGC5907 and NGC5906, Splinter Galaxy in Draco, Mau_Bard
    O
  • NGC5907 and NGC5906, Splinter Galaxy in Draco, Mau_Bard
    P

M

Title: v2

Uploaded: ...

N

Title: v2 Annotated

Uploaded: ...

O

Title: v3 - Galaxy Core

Description: Second update, 17.5 hours exposure. Galaxy core.

Uploaded: ...

P

Title: v3

Description: Second update, 17.5 hours exposure.

Uploaded: ...

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NGC5907 and NGC5906, Splinter Galaxy in Draco, Mau_Bard