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Old October 31st 08, 08:40 AM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
Rick Johnson[_2_]
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Posts: 3,085
Default ASTRO: A Perfect .10

I've actually had some clear weather with no moon problems so I've been
imaging all night long. This is creating a backlog of images to
process. I don't know where to start. Well I didn't until Thursday
afternoon. Then I saw the news that Hubble was back working and it took
a picture they call "A Perfect 10". I looked at it and felt cheated.
Seems the same time Hubble was taking this object, actually Arp 147, a
pair of ring galaxies, so was I. The pair is also known as IC 298 so
even the IC catalog has this as one object. With no backlog to process
and no wood to cut -- we pulled down yet another "widow maker" from our
vast mess created from this summer's tornado which missed us "by that
much", and cut it up into fireplace lengths -- Hubble was able to
process their version and rush it to the news media. So tonight while
imaging another Arp galaxy I did a quick process of my version of the
same object. Though in my case is is more "A Perfect .10" Obviously
theirs is better but the real reason for down grading mine by 100 is
that the star beside the two galaxies is far more prominent in my image
than theirs and is in the right spot for a decimal point. Also I'd like
to point out my telescope cost several billion dollars less than theirs
and needs no shuttle to service it. So there!

The Hubble version, in case you have been down a rabbit hole, is at:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/arc...eases/2008/37/


It appears the galaxy on the left has passed right through the one er
zero on the right. That is, the one passed through the other turning it
into a zero. In the process the one was distorted so as to have two
rings rather than spiral arms that it likely had before so it too is
considered a ring galaxy. In my shot it looks a bit like the "Saturn
Galaxy" in a recent post. The reddish part of the ring toward the
bottom left was likely the core of the now zero galaxy prior to the
collision. Its strong blue color is due to rapid star formation
triggered by the collision. It looks like the "one" galaxy was stripped
of its dust and gas by the collision so has no raw materials for star
formation. Considering its slightly overall red color it likely had
used up most of its dust and gas long ago and hasn't had much active
star formation for a few billion years. The pair is thought to be about
400 million light years from us. The small blue galaxy down and left of
my "Perfect .10" is UGCA 057. I can find nothing on it however

Of more interest is the reddish galaxy down near the bottom, about an
inch up on my monitor. Follow the line from UGCA 057 through the red
star to a white object at the very bottom then go up and bit right an
inch or so to a reddish horizontal oval. This is the galaxy SDSS
J031113.57+011438.8. Per NED it is 2.471 BILLION light years away! It
has to be one huge galaxy to be seen at that distance. Only one celled
life existed on the earth at the time those photons left that galaxy
headed for death upon hitting my sensor. Oh yes, about that "white
object" I led you to at the very bottom of the page. That is APMUKS(BJ)
B030840.95+010221.7 yet another galaxy. I can't find a thing on it
however other than the name and a bit of photometric data. That says in
visible light it shines at magnitude 19.64. There are many other such
galaxies in this image. Since I can find nothing on most of them I
won't bore you with trying to locate them. But a couple others are
interesting so here goes.

Go back to that red star and go nearly straight down to the bottom edge.
You come to a star like object. It's actually hundreds of billions of
stars as it too is a distant galaxy, not as big or distant as the
previous one. It is SDSS J031124.01+011344.7 and is only 1.6 billion
light years away.

Now go back to that bright reddish star but go left and a tad down this
time to a bright blue-white star. Continue left to a somewhat orange
star with a tiny near starlike galaxy below it. This is SDSS
J031141.69+011530.8 and it is only 1.035 billion light years away.
Right in our back yard you might say. That's three galaxies over a
billion light years away in one image and it's not a cluster.

About that big galaxy in the upper right corner... Unfortunately, it is
one of those with no info available other than its catalog name of
APMUKS(BJ) B030818.97+011155.2. You'd think more would be known about
such a big guy but apparently not.

The nice thing about all this is that Hubble DIDN'T image these guys,
only Arp 147 so maybe I scooped Hubble after all.

My shot was taken at 0.5" per pixel rather than my normal 1" per pixel
as this is one small object. Seeing that night wasn't all that good but
better than I normally get so doubt I'll go back and try again.
Besides, Hubble has me beat on this one anyway. Can't fight its multi
billion dollar bankroll!

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=6x10', RGB=3x10' binned 2x2, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

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