| Deer Lick Galaxy Group & Stephan's Quintet |
In my book, The 100 Best Astrophotography Targets, I suggested that the Deer Lick Galaxy Cluster (left) could be framed nicely with Stephan's
Quintet (right). I have finally tried this composition, and found that it was quite easy. Each galaxy group is quite bright and easily resolved, even with a
resolution of only 1.1 arcsec/pixel that I used for this image. Although I collected 6.5 hours of exposures, I could have obtained a nice image in half
that time.
Professional astronomer H. Arp had noted a region of radio sources between NGC 7331 (the brightest member of the Deer Lick Group) and
Stephan's Quintet. This suggests a bridge of material between the two groups. NGC 7331 and NGC 7320 (the brightest and bluest member of
Stephan's Quintet) lie about 50 million light years away and may be interacting. Most of the other galaxies in each group are much farther away, about
300 light years distant with a deeper red-shift. The distant group of galaxies in Stephan's Quintet show extreme distortion by interactions.
This image combined 180 minutes of clear luminance exposures with 90 minutes of red, 60 minutes green and 60 minutes of blue exposures, binned 2
x 2. A QSI-583wsg camera was used through a TEC-140 refractor at F7
Quintet (right). I have finally tried this composition, and found that it was quite easy. Each galaxy group is quite bright and easily resolved, even with a
resolution of only 1.1 arcsec/pixel that I used for this image. Although I collected 6.5 hours of exposures, I could have obtained a nice image in half
that time.
Professional astronomer H. Arp had noted a region of radio sources between NGC 7331 (the brightest member of the Deer Lick Group) and
Stephan's Quintet. This suggests a bridge of material between the two groups. NGC 7331 and NGC 7320 (the brightest and bluest member of
Stephan's Quintet) lie about 50 million light years away and may be interacting. Most of the other galaxies in each group are much farther away, about
300 light years distant with a deeper red-shift. The distant group of galaxies in Stephan's Quintet show extreme distortion by interactions.
This image combined 180 minutes of clear luminance exposures with 90 minutes of red, 60 minutes green and 60 minutes of blue exposures, binned 2
x 2. A QSI-583wsg camera was used through a TEC-140 refractor at F7
Music: Queen, Radio Ga Ga
