NGC 1097 - a barred spiral galaxy in Fornax, featuring multiple linear star streams

Image Title: NGC 1097 - a barred spiral galaxy in Fornax, featuring multiple linear star streams

Copyright: Copyright: Niall MacNeill

Date image was taken: February 03, 2024

Location: Wattle Flat, NSW, Australia

Image Description and Details: NGC 1097 is a barred spiral galaxy about 45 million light years away in the constellation Fornax. It is a strongly interacting Seyfert galaxy with obvious tidal debris and distortions caused by interaction with the companion galaxy NGC 1097A. Deep photographs revealed four narrow optical jets that appear to emanate from the nucleus. These have been interpreted as manifestations of the (currently weak) active nucleus. Subsequent analysis of the brightest jet's radio-to-X-ray spectral energy distribution were able to rule out synchrotron and thermal free-free emission. The optical jets are in fact composed of stars. NGC 1097 has a supermassive black hole at its centre, which is 140 million times the mass of the Sun. Around the central black hole is a glowing ring of star-forming regions with a network of gas and dust that spirals from the ring to the black hole. An inflow of material toward the central bar of the galaxy causes new stars to be created in the ring. The ring is approximately 5,000 light-years in diameter, the spiral arms of the galaxy extend tens of thousands of light-years beyond the ring.
Initially the straight star streams were deemed to be reflection artefacts, but they were also seen in published images. Approximately 3x the normal number of Luminance subs was captured , in order to bring out these tenuous and diffuse star streams. Pleasingly nice detail can be seen in the inner galaxy ring.
Data Capture: 2023-10-12 to 2023-02-03
Coordinates……………. RA 02h46m20.17s, Dec -30°15'32.08"
Total Integration Time: 28.8 hours (LRGB 21.8 hours, Ha 7.0 hours)
Luminance: 63 approved x 600 secs
Red: 24 approved x 600 secs
Green: 21 approved x 600 secs
Blue: 23 approved x 600 secs
Ha: 14 approved x 1800 secs
Bias: 35
Darks: 35
Flats: 20 per colour channel

Equipment Details: OTA: C11 Edge HD
Mount: PME II
Camera: SBIG 16803
Filters: Astronomik 50mm square unmounted Ha & LRGB

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