Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Pegasus (Peg)  ·  Contains:  NGC 7327  ·  NGC 7331  ·  NGC 7333  ·  NGC 7335  ·  NGC 7336  ·  NGC 7337  ·  NGC 7338  ·  NGC 7340  ·  PGC 2051985  ·  PGC 69281  ·  PGC 69291
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NGC 7331,  Is the Center Displaced or is the Disk Warped Similar to the Milky Way? (Grey ... (Revi... (Markup for the Mouseover), Alan Brunelle
NGC 7331,  Is the Center Displaced or is the Disk Warped Similar to the Milky Way? (Grey ... (Revi... (Markup for the Mouseover), Alan Brunelle

NGC 7331, Is the Center Displaced or is the Disk Warped Similar to the Milky Way? (Grey ... (Revi... (Markup for the Mouseover)

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NGC 7331,  Is the Center Displaced or is the Disk Warped Similar to the Milky Way? (Grey ... (Revi... (Markup for the Mouseover), Alan Brunelle
NGC 7331,  Is the Center Displaced or is the Disk Warped Similar to the Milky Way? (Grey ... (Revi... (Markup for the Mouseover), Alan Brunelle

NGC 7331, Is the Center Displaced or is the Disk Warped Similar to the Milky Way? (Grey ... (Revi... (Markup for the Mouseover)

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Description

Revised Description 3/2023:
I am just updating the original cropped version with a crop from the newly revised version of the full frame NGC 7331.  Its a little sharper.  Also, my mouseover is the old version gray image, but I had a misalignment in the mouseover original.  Hopefully this will align a bit better.  

Old Description:
This is a crop of my posting from earlier today. 

NGC 7331 and Stephan's Quintet, First Light UNC 12" Carbon Tube

As presented with 7331 standing on end, it doesn't seem to do justice to the image of this galaxy, so I am presenting it cropped and tipped 90 degrees.  I believe this orientation also better helps me describe what I believe is going on structurally.  I do think that the image scale "almost" is supported here for the data.  Hopefully with some additional improvements in collimation and back spacing, this will sharpen up.  And then there is my processing...  You can see the number of artifacts that I described in my descripttion of the First Light posting I made today.  In my very long description, I mentioned that I felt that the regular disk of this beautiful spiral is more likely kinked than that the center is offset.  To make the offset argument, one needs to define some sort of border at the edge of a galaxy, which can be challenging.  I could not measure a real offset.  If one was to use mass density as the rule, then one would need to know much more about the mass density distribution of all the mass.  In any case, it is likely a fool's folly to try to guess the shape of an object from a 2D image, but since one can easily see the warp in M31, which has fairly recently only been confirmed, why then not speculate on 7331?  In any case the mouseover image (sorry for the rather poor quality) tries to make that arguement.  I see right limb of 7331 as being raised above the plane of the central galactic disk.  The blue line roughly establishing the level galactic disk, which to me appears faithful out from the center to the left.  The center is marked with a "+".  I extended the blue line from this "level" area to the right to the place where it appears that outer arms of the galaxy in this region spiral above the main galactic plane.  The leftmost red arc attempts to follow the arm axis that runs into a region of disturbance and kink that appears to start the arm axis on its way above the galactic plane.  That new level seem to be consistent from that region, and outward.  To me there are similarities to what occurs visually with M31.  However, as I stated, this is trying to make 3D conclusions from 2D data.  My probable fault here is that my eye/brain interprets the darker region that is under the double arrow as shadow.  And this leaves a false impression that the right rim lies above the plane with the dark area being a shadow if the galaxy were a solid object illuminated by a source to the upper right of the galaxy.

As I mentioned, there is similarity to M31 and I think other clues.  I don't want to write too much on this, but I will add that the satellite marked as "M" here, seems to have been disrupted by an interaction.  Hard to see here, but there are two faint large "wings" of stars that extend away from M in a direction that is not consistent with the orientation of the denser part of this galaxy, but seems to point toward 7331.  M appears to be a small elliptical.  Perhaps an interaction with 7331 has distorted both galaxies in a pass-by of the two?  What caused the warp in M31?  May that mechanism be consistent with what happened here?

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