Maybe my personally most favorite galaxy image this year. But maybe I feel like it because it was a drama to get this image done. The RGB channels were fine, but I had to find out that my flats for the L data were somehow not quite right, so I had to correct those spots (many many of them) by hand, took me "forever". Luckily there was none of them on the main targets, but the background has to be nice as well, or 😊?
When I look at this image on a bigger monitor it just looks nice, in the eye of the beholder of course. The 2 main galaxies make a wonderful pair, it somehow gives me the overwhelming impression of vastness, those 2 "little" islands in the big big universe. Those far distances, I believe it will be impossible to reach them at any time in the future, I just cannot see how this is possible taking our current (proven) knowledge about causality into account when traveling faster than the speed of light. And for those distances you will definitely need that 😊. Maybe this is the reason why I love Sci-Fi shows so much because it shows something that we cannot reach. And why I love "The Expanse" series (watch it 😊), since this one seems to be much more realistic (except for the gates of course 😊).
Some information about the main eye catchers:
1. NGC 5005: Also named Caldwell 29; Distance: 45 MLYs - 113 MLYs; Size: 80,000 - 200,000 LYs.
2. NGC 5033: Distance: 38 MLYs - 60 MLYs; Size: 120,000 - 190,000 LYs.
3. NGC 5014: Distance: ~ 55 MLYs; Size: ~ 25,000 LYs
4. NGC 5002: Distance: ~ 40 MLYs; Size: ~ 20,000 LYs
Personally I like the 2 diffuse galaxies: PGC 45927 and PGC 46009. Could not find any detailed information about them though.
A special thanks to
@Gary Imm for the wonderful idea how to show a magnified part of the image in a nice way.
* This image was not submitted for IOTD consideration
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