Astronomy Picture of the Day -- The Sombrero Galaxy from Hubble

NASA ^ | May 15, 2011 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

It's just 19 minutes after midnight here, and I can get this day's topic out of the way, and go to bed. :')

[SunkenCiv]

join or quit list APOD 'blog post new APOD topic Astronomy Picture of the Day topic & keyword Astronomy Chat, Bloggers & keyword Science Chat, Bloggers & keyword NASA's APOD archive Calendar 1995-present

[bigbob]

wow.....just so much we don’t have any inkling about...

[mnehring]

Near the bottom middle is a real cool image of conjoining galaxies.

[TheOldLady]

Spectacular!

‘Night, Civ.

[cripplecreek]

That pic has been around for a while but its one of the coolest ones out there.

[KoRn]

To me, it looks more like a plate or a frisbee, rather than a Sombrero.

[KoRn]

One more thing.....

I think its also interesting how this galaxy doesn’t appear to have spiraled arms like our home Galaxy and so many others.

[Junior_G]

Near the bottom middle is a real cool image of conjoining galaxies.

The level of detail in the photo is incredible when you go out to the source site and then click on the photo again to get the large version. Galaxies, galaxies, and more galaxies.

[Junior_G]

Near the bottom middle is a real cool image of conjoining galaxies.

The level of detail in the photo is incredible when you go out to the source site and then click on the photo again to get the large version. Galaxies, galaxies, and more galaxies.

[SunkenCiv]

/ditto

[SunkenCiv]

It could also be called the Roller Derby Galaxy.

[brytlea]

Thank you, and after reading that I feel smarter too. :)

[SunkenCiv]

Looks kinda like the edge of a vortex, and- hey, wait a minute... ;’)

[KoRn]

Super-Massive Black Holes suck!

[Conan the Librarian]

Actually many galaxies throughout the cosmos are Elliptical. They are either giant balls, cocoons, or spindles. Many of the most massive galaxies we can see are elliptical galaxies.

NGC 3115 is a prime example, as is M87.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_morphological_classification is a nice article about galatic shapes.

[dragnet2]

I shot this from my backyard no too long ago.

This is M-51 Whirlpool spiral Galaxy, at about 35 million light years from Earth. Also seen are M51 companion galaxy NGC 5195, seen above M51.

SMT 10" SCT 35x120 second exposures @ISO 800 w/6.3 focal reducer and LP filters, calibrated and stacked in DSS.

The Whirlpool Galaxy is about 60 thousand light years across.

[Conan the Librarian]

Very nice indeed!

I use to take pictures from my back yard, but, I couldn’t get anything like that. Too bright a sky, Black and White camera and just a regular equatorial mount, no goto.

We have a few folks in our club that are quite good at it now. It is almost like they are using point and shoot cameras any more. I keep telling them that the old guys back in the 1900s would have killed them for this setup.

[dragnet2]

I have extreme light issues, and the reason I use light filters, to filter out a much of the obstructive light wave lengths. Many do much better work than I. My budget is tiny, my equipment is dated and used, not to mention I much to learn. But getting by on what I got, trying to get the best shot and making do, is part of the challenge and fun.

Thanks for the nice comment.

[dragnet2]

I keep telling them that the old guys back in the 1900s would have killed them for this setup.

BTW, going back to just early 1990s, most amateurs could not have imagined the coming digital technology would allow them to produce images close to what professional large research observatories were producing previously. Some of the work done by other amateurs today is really beyond belief, all made possible by the digital revolution.