NGC 7331 and the "Fleas": Cosmic Linear Perspective (Howard Trottier)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Pegasus (Peg) · Contains: NGC 7327 · NGC 7331 · NGC 7333 · NGC 7335 · NGC 7336 · NGC 7337 · NGC 7338 · NGC 7340

Image of the day 01/17/2022

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NGC 7331 and the "Fleas": Cosmic Linear Perspective

Image of the day 01/17/2022

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NGC 7331 and the "Fleas": Cosmic Linear Perspective

Is there a better example of linear perspective in an astronomical image than one of NGC 7331 and the "Fleas" (collectively referred to as the Deer Lick Group)? A powerful illusion of depth is conveyed by the view out over the foreshortened disk of NGC 7331 through to the four background galaxies known as the fleas (which, from left to right above NGC 7331, are NGC 7337, 7340, 7335, and 7336). Not only is there a chance close alignment of the five galaxies, it also happens that their apparent angular diameters are actually (roughly) inversely proportional to their distances, as would be the case for genuine perspective (implying that the galaxies have roughly the same physical diameter). That is some happenstance!

This image is the result of about 30 hours of exposure time, divided roughly equally between luminance and colour. I took about half of the data in the fall of 2020, and the other half at the end of summer 2021. This is the first of the images from my "Final Frontier Telescope" that I've posted at the system's full resolution, which is about 0.47"/pixel, while the FOV here (after lots of "human dithering" over the crop!), is about 31' X 23'.

I revised the original image that I posted to reduce the "salmon" tint that was in the region around the core, and I backed off on the saturation a bit. I also changed the title to refer to the fleas!

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5366777
PixInsight job	MR69KIQTUCOM5RW4JS43GICURPYHMS4J
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	22h37m05s.544
RA (top/left)	22h38m01s.752
RA (top/right)	22h38m01s.887
RA (bottom/right)	22h36m08s.988
RA (bottom/left)	22h36m09s.487

Dec (center)	+34°24′48″.76
Dec (top/left)	+34°09′13″.28
Dec (top/right)	+34°40′24″.14
Dec (bottom/right)	+34°40′22″.82
Dec (bottom/left)	+34°09′11″.66

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Image of the day 01/17/2022

NGC 7331 and the "Fleas": Cosmic Linear Perspective

Image of the day 01/17/2022

NGC 7331 and the "Fleas": Cosmic Linear Perspective

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Image of the day 01/17/2022

NGC 7331 and the "Fleas": Cosmic Linear Perspective

Image of the day 01/17/2022

NGC 7331 and the "Fleas": Cosmic Linear Perspective

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