Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Fornax (For)  ·  Contains:  NGC 986
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NGC 986, Gary Imm
NGC 986, Gary Imm

NGC 986

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NGC 986, Gary Imm
NGC 986, Gary Imm

NGC 986

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Description

This barred grand design spiral galaxy is located 80 million light years away in the southern constellation of Fornax at a declination of -39 degrees.  It is a magnitude 10.9 galaxy which spans 3.4 arc-minutes in our apparent view.  This corresponds to a diameter of 80,000 light years.

By my calculation, we are viewing this galaxy about 30 degrees from edge-on.  This galaxy is not imaged much from the northern hemisphere because of its low declination.

I love the structure and color of this galaxy.  The white core is oblong, not circular, at an orientation of almost 90 degrees to the long yellow bar.   A lovely dark dust lane splits the bar.  An inner pseudo-ring encircles the bar.  At each end of the bar, 2 graceful blue arms extend out 180 degrees.  The top arm curves all the way back to the start of the other arm.

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