ASTRO: Arp 256

Arp 256 consists of two interacting galaxies; MCG-02-01-051 (lower) and
MCG-02-01-052 (upper) at a distance of about 355 million light years.
Arp classed them as; Galaxies not classifiable as S or E; Appearance of
fission. Using standard galaxy classification the upper one is classed
as SBc pec while the lower as SBb pec? So both are considered barred
spirals. One note says of the upper galaxy; "It is possible that it
alone consists of two overlapping galaxies." Hubble has taken an
excellent image of this pair, it is at:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images...heic0810ag.jpg. I'm not
sure if it answers the question about it being two galaxies or not.
That blue knot between the cores of the two galaxies may be a third
galaxy. It carries a red shift that is a bit higher than either of the
two galaxy cores. It is about the same as the smaller area of blue
stars north of the core of the upper galaxy. Thus there seems to be an
overlay of blue stars with a slightly greater red shift (by about 40 to
80 km/s). Whether this is a separate system I don't know. The lower
galaxy MCG-02-01-051 has a very interesting tidal tail to the west and
in the Hubble image it too has some of these super hot blue stars that
may really be related to the other blue stars rather than the galaxy
itself. Note how wild its core is as seen by Hubble.

The entire field is rather interesting and contains the most distant
galaxy I've ever imaged directly, It's the distance of quasars not
galaxies. Per NED it's red shift puts it a bit over 10 billion light
years away! Did galaxies large enough to shine at 20th magnitude exist
in a 3.5 billion year old universe? That seems pushing it though Hubble
has shown large galaxies coming together far faster than we had
expected. There's one "but" in this. Seems the red shift distance has
been determined photometrically rather than spectroscopically. Thus
there's room for a very large error if some assumptions are wrong. The
galaxy is directly below Arp 256 near the bottom of the page. Many more
distant galaxies and a couple quasars (one quasar candidate is even
further away than the galaxy but not by much. There are two asteroids
in the image as well. Rather than try to point all this out I've just
attached a second annotated image. Quasars are noted with a q in front
of the distance. The other distances are for galaxies.

This pair is located at the western end of Cetus the Whale and thus is
rather low in my sky reducing my ability to see fine detail. The image
is a bit fuzzier than I'd like because of this.

Hubble's image of this system with the 200" scope is at:
http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level...ig_arp256.jpeg

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10', RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

aha, another of those little twisted sisters again!

that would be totally awesome if you could capture that under outstanding
seeing conditions

but it is good enough as it is

you were complaining about skies, I've had the same problem too Rick

took me three weeks to do that first light with the '155/39K


"Rick Johnson" wrote in message
ster.com...
Arp 256 consists of two interacting galaxies; MCG-02-01-051 (lower) and
MCG-02-01-052 (upper) at a distance of about 355 million light years.
Arp classed them as; Galaxies not classifiable as S or E; Appearance of
fission. Using standard galaxy classification the upper one is classed
as SBc pec while the lower as SBb pec? So both are considered barred
spirals. One note says of the upper galaxy; "It is possible that it
alone consists of two overlapping galaxies." Hubble has taken an
excellent image of this pair, it is at:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images...heic0810ag.jpg. I'm not
sure if it answers the question about it being two galaxies or not.
That blue knot between the cores of the two galaxies may be a third
galaxy. It carries a red shift that is a bit higher than either of the
two galaxy cores. It is about the same as the smaller area of blue
stars north of the core of the upper galaxy. Thus there seems to be an
overlay of blue stars with a slightly greater red shift (by about 40 to
80 km/s). Whether this is a separate system I don't know. The lower
galaxy MCG-02-01-051 has a very interesting tidal tail to the west and
in the Hubble image it too has some of these super hot blue stars that
may really be related to the other blue stars rather than the galaxy
itself. Note how wild its core is as seen by Hubble.

The entire field is rather interesting and contains the most distant
galaxy I've ever imaged directly, It's the distance of quasars not
galaxies. Per NED it's red shift puts it a bit over 10 billion light
years away! Did galaxies large enough to shine at 20th magnitude exist
in a 3.5 billion year old universe? That seems pushing it though Hubble
has shown large galaxies coming together far faster than we had
expected. There's one "but" in this. Seems the red shift distance has
been determined photometrically rather than spectroscopically. Thus
there's room for a very large error if some assumptions are wrong. The
galaxy is directly below Arp 256 near the bottom of the page. Many more
distant galaxies and a couple quasars (one quasar candidate is even
further away than the galaxy but not by much. There are two asteroids
in the image as well. Rather than try to point all this out I've just
attached a second annotated image. Quasars are noted with a q in front
of the distance. The other distances are for galaxies.

This pair is located at the western end of Cetus the Whale and thus is
rather low in my sky reducing my ability to see fine detail. The image
is a bit fuzzier than I'd like because of this.

Hubble's image of this system with the 200" scope is at:
http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level...ig_arp256.jpeg

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10', RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Rick,

very good result for such a low object. I usually try to avoid objects
at -10 degrees dec.

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
ster.com...
Arp 256 consists of two interacting galaxies; MCG-02-01-051 (lower) and
MCG-02-01-052 (upper) at a distance of about 355 million light years.
Arp classed them as; Galaxies not classifiable as S or E; Appearance of
fission. Using standard galaxy classification the upper one is classed
as SBc pec while the lower as SBb pec? So both are considered barred
spirals. One note says of the upper galaxy; "It is possible that it
alone consists of two overlapping galaxies." Hubble has taken an
excellent image of this pair, it is at:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images...heic0810ag.jpg. I'm not
sure if it answers the question about it being two galaxies or not.
That blue knot between the cores of the two galaxies may be a third
galaxy. It carries a red shift that is a bit higher than either of the
two galaxy cores. It is about the same as the smaller area of blue
stars north of the core of the upper galaxy. Thus there seems to be an
overlay of blue stars with a slightly greater red shift (by about 40 to
80 km/s). Whether this is a separate system I don't know. The lower
galaxy MCG-02-01-051 has a very interesting tidal tail to the west and
in the Hubble image it too has some of these super hot blue stars that
may really be related to the other blue stars rather than the galaxy
itself. Note how wild its core is as seen by Hubble.

The entire field is rather interesting and contains the most distant
galaxy I've ever imaged directly, It's the distance of quasars not
galaxies. Per NED it's red shift puts it a bit over 10 billion light
years away! Did galaxies large enough to shine at 20th magnitude exist
in a 3.5 billion year old universe? That seems pushing it though Hubble
has shown large galaxies coming together far faster than we had
expected. There's one "but" in this. Seems the red shift distance has
been determined photometrically rather than spectroscopically. Thus
there's room for a very large error if some assumptions are wrong. The
galaxy is directly below Arp 256 near the bottom of the page. Many more
distant galaxies and a couple quasars (one quasar candidate is even
further away than the galaxy but not by much. There are two asteroids
in the image as well. Rather than try to point all this out I've just
attached a second annotated image. Quasars are noted with a q in front
of the distance. The other distances are for galaxies.

This pair is located at the western end of Cetus the Whale and thus is
rather low in my sky reducing my ability to see fine detail. The image
is a bit fuzzier than I'd like because of this.

Hubble's image of this system with the 200" scope is at:
http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level...ig_arp256.jpeg

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10', RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

3rd galaxy mysteries. Is that there or not?




"Rick Johnson" wrote in message
ster.com...
Arp 256 consists of two interacting galaxies; MCG-02-01-051 (lower) and
MCG-02-01-052 (upper) at a distance of about 355 million light years.
Arp classed them as; Galaxies not classifiable as S or E; Appearance of
fission. Using standard galaxy classification the upper one is classed
as SBc pec while the lower as SBb pec? So both are considered barred
spirals. One note says of the upper galaxy; "It is possible that it
alone consists of two overlapping galaxies." Hubble has taken an
excellent image of this pair, it is at:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images...heic0810ag.jpg. I'm not
sure if it answers the question about it being two galaxies or not.
That blue knot between the cores of the two galaxies may be a third
galaxy. It carries a red shift that is a bit higher than either of the
two galaxy cores. It is about the same as the smaller area of blue
stars north of the core of the upper galaxy. Thus there seems to be an
overlay of blue stars with a slightly greater red shift (by about 40 to
80 km/s). Whether this is a separate system I don't know. The lower
galaxy MCG-02-01-051 has a very interesting tidal tail to the west and
in the Hubble image it too has some of these super hot blue stars that
may really be related to the other blue stars rather than the galaxy
itself. Note how wild its core is as seen by Hubble.

The entire field is rather interesting and contains the most distant
galaxy I've ever imaged directly, It's the distance of quasars not
galaxies. Per NED it's red shift puts it a bit over 10 billion light
years away! Did galaxies large enough to shine at 20th magnitude exist
in a 3.5 billion year old universe? That seems pushing it though Hubble
has shown large galaxies coming together far faster than we had
expected. There's one "but" in this. Seems the red shift distance has
been determined photometrically rather than spectroscopically. Thus
there's room for a very large error if some assumptions are wrong. The
galaxy is directly below Arp 256 near the bottom of the page. Many more
distant galaxies and a couple quasars (one quasar candidate is even
further away than the galaxy but not by much. There are two asteroids
in the image as well. Rather than try to point all this out I've just
attached a second annotated image. Quasars are noted with a q in front
of the distance. The other distances are for galaxies.

This pair is located at the western end of Cetus the Whale and thus is
rather low in my sky reducing my ability to see fine detail. The image
is a bit fuzzier than I'd like because of this.

Hubble's image of this system with the 200" scope is at:
http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level...ig_arp256.jpeg

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10', RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".