ASTRO IC 65 A non symmetrical spiral

IC 65 is a somewhat non symmetrical spiral about 110 million light-years
distant in the constellation of Andromeda north of the famous Andromeda
galaxy, M31. It classed as SAB(s)bc. Is it naturally unsymmetrical or
is this the result of an encounter with another galaxy. It is a member
of a very small, sparse group known as the IC 65 group. So sparse I can
identify only one other member of the group in my image. That is
[VH2008] J0101+4744. A very small dwarf galaxy to the northeast.
Further southeast is [VH2008] J0100+4734 which I really wanted to know
more about as it seems to consist of several condensations.
Unfortunately NED has no distance data and only an approximate position
making it impossible to tell if it refers to all the parts or just some
or even one of them. There is a larger member of the group out of the
picture several minutes of arc above the top of my field. Not knowing
it at the time I centered on IC 65 so missed it. The only other galaxy
with distance data is MCG +08-03-003, the obvious elliptical galaxy to
the northwest of IC 65. It however is much more distant at 630 million
light-years. I found little on the field.

IC 65 is nearly 140,000 light-years across, making it a very large
spiral. While [VH2008] J0101+4744 is only about 12,000 light-years in
diameter, less than 10% the size in area and 1% in volume. There may be
a small round galaxy at its eastern end. The orange elliptical MCG
+08-03-003 is very large at about 175,000 light-years. I'd expect such
a galaxy to anchor a group but I found nothing to indicate that was the
case with MCG +08-03-003.

Many other galaxies are visible in the image. Only 10 are even listed
at NED. I listed them all in the annotated image. Most had no distance
information so are just listed by catalog name. [VH2008] is the Vennik,
Hopp catalog. The 4C object is from the Fourth Cambridge Radio Catalogue
indicating this galaxy was first found by its strong radio emission. It
is listed in the 1RXS (ROSAT All-Sky Survey Bright Source Catalog of
X-ray sources) and the 2MASX catalog. It covers a rather wide spectrum.
NED however doesn't list it in an ultra-violet catalog. The vast
majority of galaxies in the image are apparently anonymous. I hope their
inhabitants aren't offended by that slight.

I had a very nasty reflection to the east of IC 65 cause unknown. I get
these sort of triangular shaped "features" every once in a while. If I
see them in the first frame I move the field a couple minutes and they
vanish. When the main object is off center a bit that is likely why.
In this case the image was taken automatically so I wasn't available and
didn't find it until I went to process the image. I cloned it out. But
you will note there is quite a bit of scattered background light. Some
of the brightest to the east where I removed the reflection. Since the
glow appeared on all sides of the reflection I cloned it in rather than
leaving the area as black as areas without the glow. What I don't know
is if this is real or a bigger reflection issue. I tried enhancing the
POSS plates but no hint of it turned up. Though areas of Andromeda do
have rather ill defined galactic cirrus. Not being an expert on
galactic cirrus I don't know if that is what I picked up or not. In
case it is real I left it in. I need to retake the field with a
different camera pointing to verify which is the case. Normally I'd
trust it to be real but since it could be related to the obvious
reflection issue I am not as confident that it is real.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

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

Rick,

that galaxy looks spectacular.
I'd wish it was ten times larger.

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...

IC 65 is a somewhat non symmetrical spiral about 110 million light-years
distant in the constellation of Andromeda north of the famous Andromeda
galaxy, M31. It classed as SAB(s)bc. Is it naturally unsymmetrical or
is this the result of an encounter with another galaxy. It is a member
of a very small, sparse group known as the IC 65 group. So sparse I can
identify only one other member of the group in my image. That is
[VH2008] J0101+4744. A very small dwarf galaxy to the northeast.
Further southeast is [VH2008] J0100+4734 which I really wanted to know
more about as it seems to consist of several condensations.
Unfortunately NED has no distance data and only an approximate position
making it impossible to tell if it refers to all the parts or just some
or even one of them. There is a larger member of the group out of the
picture several minutes of arc above the top of my field. Not knowing
it at the time I centered on IC 65 so missed it. The only other galaxy
with distance data is MCG +08-03-003, the obvious elliptical galaxy to
the northwest of IC 65. It however is much more distant at 630 million
light-years. I found little on the field.

IC 65 is nearly 140,000 light-years across, making it a very large
spiral. While [VH2008] J0101+4744 is only about 12,000 light-years in
diameter, less than 10% the size in area and 1% in volume. There may be
a small round galaxy at its eastern end. The orange elliptical MCG
+08-03-003 is very large at about 175,000 light-years. I'd expect such
a galaxy to anchor a group but I found nothing to indicate that was the
case with MCG +08-03-003.

Many other galaxies are visible in the image. Only 10 are even listed
at NED. I listed them all in the annotated image. Most had no distance
information so are just listed by catalog name. [VH2008] is the Vennik,
Hopp catalog. The 4C object is from the Fourth Cambridge Radio Catalogue
indicating this galaxy was first found by its strong radio emission. It
is listed in the 1RXS (ROSAT All-Sky Survey Bright Source Catalog of
X-ray sources) and the 2MASX catalog. It covers a rather wide spectrum.
NED however doesn't list it in an ultra-violet catalog. The vast
majority of galaxies in the image are apparently anonymous. I hope their
inhabitants aren't offended by that slight.

I had a very nasty reflection to the east of IC 65 cause unknown. I get
these sort of triangular shaped "features" every once in a while. If I
see them in the first frame I move the field a couple minutes and they
vanish. When the main object is off center a bit that is likely why.
In this case the image was taken automatically so I wasn't available and
didn't find it until I went to process the image. I cloned it out. But
you will note there is quite a bit of scattered background light. Some
of the brightest to the east where I removed the reflection. Since the
glow appeared on all sides of the reflection I cloned it in rather than
leaving the area as black as areas without the glow. What I don't know
is if this is real or a bigger reflection issue. I tried enhancing the
POSS plates but no hint of it turned up. Though areas of Andromeda do
have rather ill defined galactic cirrus. Not being an expert on
galactic cirrus I don't know if that is what I picked up or not. In
case it is real I left it in. I need to retake the field with a
different camera pointing to verify which is the case. Normally I'd
trust it to be real but since it could be related to the obvious
reflection issue I am not as confident that it is real.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

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