NGC 772 is a spiral galaxy that can be found by looking in the constellation Aries. It is about 100,000 light-years (a light-year is about 6 trillion miles) in diameter and is about 130 million light-years from us. It has but one spiral arm and it is elongated toward the top of the image. The general belief of astronomers is that the elongation has been caused by the gravitational pull of NGC 770, a dwarf eliptical galaxy (it is located just to the lower right of NGC 772 in the image) as it orbits around NGC 772. NGC 770 is only about 100,000 light-years from NGC 772 and will one day be absorbed by NGC 772.

This image is full of dozens of background galaxies. They can be distinguished by their edge on "frisbee" like shape. Some are closer and show more color and center intensity, while many are like slivers of light. They are hundreds of millions of light years from us.


To see largest available size click on "Original" at bottom of page

To see full screen press F11. Press F11 again to return to normal screen

Dates:
October 23,24,25,29,30, 2011
Location:
Ft. Griffin State Historic Site, Texas
Telescope:
Celestron C11Edge @ f/10 2800mm FL
Mount:
Astro-Physics Mach1 guided by the ST-10XE using the Remote Guide Head thru a Hutech Off Axis Guider
Camera:
SBIG ST-10XE at prime focus with CFW8 and Astronomik LRGB filters
Image Scale:
.5 arcsecs/pxl
Camera Control:
CCDSoft
Exposures:
Luminance - 290 mins; 1x1
Red - 70 mins; 2x2
Green - 70 mins; 2x2
Blue - 75 mins; 2x2
Exposure time:
8 hrs 42 mins
Processing:
CCDStack; Registar; Photoshop CS2