NGC 2207

Click on image for larger version.

Quite a bit of commotion is happening 114 million light years away with these two galaxies! The smaller of the two galaxies is approximately the same size as our own Milky Way galaxy. These galaxies are passing very near to one another so that their mutual gravitation influence distorts the shape of the other. Look closely to see a brown arc to the right of the nucleus of the smaller galaxy. This is the spiral arm of the larger galaxy (NGC 2207) which is in the foreground. This galactic dance is begining to trigger massive regions of star formations (barely discernable here as pink dots along the spiral arms).

Equipment

Meade 16in LX200 telescope operating at f/10
SBIG ST8E CCD camera with color filter wheel

L R G B color production was used to create this image.

Luminance = 60 minutes binned 1x1
 Red = 20 minutes binned 2x2
 Green = 10 minutes binned 2x2
 Blue = 35 minutes binned 2x2
  • One iteration of L-R deconvolution (sharpening) algorithm using CCDsharp was applied to the luminance image.

  • Digital Developement (DDP) via Maxim/DL was also used in order to display the the very dim and very bright details of the image simultaneously.

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    Minimum credit line: Thalia and Norman Terrell/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

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    Updated: 10/22/2000