Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 613

Taken December 13, 2004

Kitt Peak National Observatory

 Image Credit: Fred Calvert / Adam Block / KPNO /AURA / NSF

NGC 613, beautiful barred spiral galaxy a mere 65 million light-years away in the southern constellation Sculptor.

Over 100 thousand light-years across, NGC 613 seems to have more than its fair share of spiral arms laced with cosmic dust clouds and bright star forming regions near the ends of a dominant central bar.

This galaxy is inclined by 32 degrees and, contrary to most barred spirals, has many arms that give it a tentacular appearance

Prominent dust lanes are visible along the large-scale bar. Extensive star-formation occurs in this area, at the ends of the bar, and also in the nuclear regions of the galaxy.

The gas at the centre, as well as the radio properties are indicative of the presence of a massive black hole in the centre of  NGC 613.

This images is not as sharp as other taken during this run, due to the fact that NGC 613 was very low on the horizon.

 

Equipment:  

20" RC Optics Systems Telescope @ F 5.5 on a Paramount ME Robotic Mount

SBIG ST10XME w Color Filter Wheel & AO-7 Adaptive Optics

Exposure Data:

LRGB

Luminance = 75 minutes  binned 1 X 1

Red = 20 minutes binned 1 X 1

Green = 20 minutes binned 1 X 1                                

Blue = 20 minutes binned 1 X 1

Two iterations of L-R deconvolution (sharping) alorithm using CCDsharp were applied to the luminance image.

Digital Development (DDP) via Maxim DL 4 was also used in order to display the very dim and very bright details of this image.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                    

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