ASTRO: A galaxy of a different color -- Maffei 1

A galaxy of a different color --

Maffei 1 was originally cataloged as a nebula. It is SH2-191 in the
Sharpless catalog of emission nebula for instance. It was recognized as
a huge elliptical galaxy by Paolo Maffei in 1968 along with a nearby
giant spiral Maffei 2. It lies only 0.6 degrees from our galactic
plane. If in clear skies it would be naked eye galaxy like the much
closer M31 and M33. Some claim it would be brighter than M31 to the
naked eye. Maffei 1 is thought to be about 10 million light-years away
in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The error bar for that is about +/-
1 million light-years.
http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/...5116.text.html

Normally I see galaxies of this color only when they are several billion
light years distant and thus reddened by that many light years of inter
galactic gas and dust. Here I got the same color from only the dust
along the plane of our galaxy. I believe it is varying levels of dust
in our galaxy that makes the apparent dust lane in Maffei 1 and is
responsible for its very lopsided shape. Seen by the 2MASS survey at 2
microns which penetrates the dust in our galaxy it looks very different.
Paper:
http://www.aanda.org/index.php?optio...566.right.html
Image:
http://www.aanda.org/index.php?optio...1566/img32.gif

While Maffei 1 was thought to be an emission nebula, ironically, the
blue reflection nebula northeast of the galaxy in my picture, ZOAG
G135.91-00.47 was listed in the Zone of Avoidance Galaxy catalog, as a
galaxy, about the same time Maffei was discovering the galaxy wasn't a
nebula. It wasn't until 2003, thanks to the Midcourse Space Experiment
it was determined to be a nebula forming new stars. That put it in the
MSE catalog as [KSP2003] J023709.98+594231.0. To the north northwest
less than 2 minutes away is another nebulous patch. This one isn't as
blue. The only thing I find in Simbad in the area is centered a few
seconds of arc below the star that seems embedded in it. Simbad classes
it as an HII source though it is mostly listed in catalogs for CO masers
and other IR catalogs. It also made the Midcourse Space Experiment
catalog as MSX6C G135.8914-00.4580. For an HII region it is an odd
bluish color rather than HII pink.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=8x10' RGB=4x10'x3, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick
--
Prefix is correct. Domain is arvig dot net

Great image Rick.
I was not aware that the Maffei galaxies are within reach of amateur
telescopes.

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
om...
A galaxy of a different color --

Maffei 1 was originally cataloged as a nebula. It is SH2-191 in the
Sharpless catalog of emission nebula for instance. It was recognized as
a huge elliptical galaxy by Paolo Maffei in 1968 along with a nearby
giant spiral Maffei 2. It lies only 0.6 degrees from our galactic
plane. If in clear skies it would be naked eye galaxy like the much
closer M31 and M33. Some claim it would be brighter than M31 to the
naked eye. Maffei 1 is thought to be about 10 million light-years away
in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The error bar for that is about +/-
1 million light-years.
http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/...5116.text.html

Normally I see galaxies of this color only when they are several billion
light years distant and thus reddened by that many light years of inter
galactic gas and dust. Here I got the same color from only the dust
along the plane of our galaxy. I believe it is varying levels of dust
in our galaxy that makes the apparent dust lane in Maffei 1 and is
responsible for its very lopsided shape. Seen by the 2MASS survey at 2
microns which penetrates the dust in our galaxy it looks very different.
Paper:
http://www.aanda.org/index.php?optio...566.right.html
Image:
http://www.aanda.org/index.php?optio...1566/img32.gif

While Maffei 1 was thought to be an emission nebula, ironically, the
blue reflection nebula northeast of the galaxy in my picture, ZOAG
G135.91-00.47 was listed in the Zone of Avoidance Galaxy catalog, as a
galaxy, about the same time Maffei was discovering the galaxy wasn't a
nebula. It wasn't until 2003, thanks to the Midcourse Space Experiment
it was determined to be a nebula forming new stars. That put it in the
MSE catalog as [KSP2003] J023709.98+594231.0. To the north northwest
less than 2 minutes away is another nebulous patch. This one isn't as
blue. The only thing I find in Simbad in the area is centered a few
seconds of arc below the star that seems embedded in it. Simbad classes
it as an HII source though it is mostly listed in catalogs for CO masers
and other IR catalogs. It also made the Midcourse Space Experiment
catalog as MSX6C G135.8914-00.4580. For an HII region it is an odd
bluish color rather than HII pink.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=8x10' RGB=4x10'x3, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick
--
Prefix is correct. Domain is arvig dot net