ASTRO: NGC 5054

Another small galaxy.

NGC 5054 ( Image up-sampled 1.25x )
Virgo
Penryn, California
May 2009
FS-128 (ag, ST-4)
ST-10XME LRGB 10 minute subs

NGC 5054 is classified as Sbc. Surface brightness is listed as mag
13.2, distance is 82 Mly. SN 2004ab.

The faint edge on spiral at left center is magnitude 15 LEDA 83911.

On 5/13/2010 12:11 PM, Glen Youman wrote:
Another small galaxy.

NGC 5054 ( Image up-sampled 1.25x )
Virgo
Penryn, California
May 2009
FS-128 (ag, ST-4)
ST-10XME LRGB 10 minute subs

NGC 5054 is classified as Sbc. Surface brightness is listed as mag
13.2, distance is 82 Mly. SN 2004ab.

The faint edge on spiral at left center is magnitude 15 LEDA 83911.

That one has been on my to do list for some time. It is very similar to
Arp 68 which I imaged last September but am yet to process. Being below
my normal -15 cut off I've not had a night good enough to try it. It is
on my Arp-like list due to its similarity to Arp 68. Both are
interacting spirals in which the side oposite the companion is most
distorted. Though in your case the two are both listed as being at
virtually the same red shift, 95 million light years per my notes. In
the case of Arp 68 the "companion" is anonymous with no red shift data.
Most consider it far beyond as it isn't distorted. But this galaxy
pair is known to be the same distance and its companion is thought to be
interacting yet it shows no distortion either. Makes me wonder if the
Arp 68 companion really is innocent.

An interesting thing about 5054 is that there are about 5054 is that it
has about 7 cluster members around it. All but the one outside your FOV
and all of them are edge on to our line of sight except for 5054! A
very odd coincidence. I can't get them all in my FOV but will get those
I can if I ever get good enough skies that low.

You picked a very interesting target!

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".

Interacting galaxies where one of a pair appears normal and the
companion highly distorted brings to mind the M81/82 pair. I suspect
such senarios are somewhat common.



On Thu, 13 May 2010 23:06:58 -0500, Rick Johnson
wrote:



That one has been on my to do list for some time. It is very similar to
Arp 68 which I imaged last September but am yet to process. Being below
my normal -15 cut off I've not had a night good enough to try it. It is
on my Arp-like list due to its similarity to Arp 68. Both are
interacting spirals in which the side oposite the companion is most
distorted. Though in your case the two are both listed as being at
virtually the same red shift, 95 million light years per my notes. In
the case of Arp 68 the "companion" is anonymous with no red shift data.
Most consider it far beyond as it isn't distorted. But this galaxy
pair is known to be the same distance and its companion is thought to be
interacting yet it shows no distortion either. Makes me wonder if the
Arp 68 companion really is innocent.

An interesting thing about 5054 is that there are about 5054 is that it
has about 7 cluster members around it. All but the one outside your FOV
and all of them are edge on to our line of sight except for 5054! A
very odd coincidence. I can't get them all in my FOV but will get those
I can if I ever get good enough skies that low.

You picked a very interesting target!

Rick