Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Pisces (Psc)  ·  Contains:  NGC 486  ·  NGC 488  ·  NGC 490  ·  NGC 492
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NGC 488, Gary Imm
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NGC 488

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NGC 488, Gary Imm
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NGC 488

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Description

This object is an unusually structured face-on spiral galaxy located 100 million miles away in the constellation of Pisces at a declination of +15 degrees. Its apparent size to us of 6 arc-minutes corresponds to a very large diameter of 160,000 light years.

The subtle structure of this galaxy is fascinating to me. This galaxy has a yellow core and transitions to purplish/bluish in the mid to outer region, indicating star formation is still ongoing. Most interesting is the arm structure. Although difficult to see, and splitting in several places, the primary structure looks like an inner ring with one single arm which continually spirals outward for at least 4 complete revolutions! The structure is similar to what I have imaged in a few other galaxies, such as NGC 7217 and NGC 2841.

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