Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Fornax (For)  ·  Contains:  NGC 1350
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NGC 1350 Eye shaped galaxy in Eridanus - rarely imaged, Freestar8n
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NGC 1350 Eye shaped galaxy in Eridanus - rarely imaged

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 1350 Eye shaped galaxy in Eridanus - rarely imaged, Freestar8n
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 1350 Eye shaped galaxy in Eridanus - rarely imaged

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Description

This is an interesting eye-shaped galaxy in Eridanus associated with NGC 1359. Imaged over 5 nights from 12/24 to 12/29 2019 with EdgeHD11 at f/7 and ASI1600MMPro, native 0.4" per pixel and resized to 0.8". Imaged with i' r' g' Sloan filters and guided with MetaGuide and OAG.

44x3x5m exposures = 11h total.

There is a prominent microlens diffraction pattern evident from two of the brighter stars - but that is what you get with the Panasonic sensor due to its lack of full anti-reflection coatings. I am used to it and I just leave it there as an instrument artifact.

This is from fairly bright suburban skies in Melbourne, Australia - with SQM value of about 18.6 mag/arc-sec^2. Images captured automatically with autofocus every 40 minutes based on multi-star parabolic fit - and stepper motor on the primary focusing knob.

The colors were calibrated using 40 foreground APASS stars with Sloan magnitudes. Then gradient removal and levels stretch in Photoshop - and 50% reduction in image size as final step. No other manipulation of the image was performed, and no alteration of the calibrated colors. The deep red of some of the stars is due to their cool temperatures and the extended IR sensitivity of the i' Sloan filter. Exposures in the i', r', g' filters mapped to R, G, B.

There are many faint and small background galaxies to explore close up - and they are easily distinguished from stars because no additional processing has been performed to alter their morphology.

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NGC 1350 Eye shaped galaxy in Eridanus - rarely imaged, Freestar8n