NGC 253 (Sculptor Galaxy)
Size: 2000 px
 
© Velimir Popov & Emil Ivanov 2014
 

The Silver Dollar Galaxy (also known as the Silver Coin or Sculptor Galaxy, NGC 253, or Caldwell 65) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. It is currently undergoing a period of intense star formation. The galaxy was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783.It is described by Allan Sandage in 1961 as "the prototype example of a special subgroup of Sc systems". The Sculptor Galaxy is located at the center of the Sculptor Group, one of the nearest groups of galaxies to the Milky Way. The estimated distance of NGC 253 is about 11.4 Mly (3.5 Mpc). Larger filed (four panel mosaic including the globular cluster NGC 288) can be found here .

Image details

 

Center of field RA 00:47:28 (h:m:s)
Center of field DE -25:18:05 (deg:m:s)
Size 68.4 x 50.3 (arcmin)
Pixel scale: 2.52 x 1.85 (arcsec/pixel)
Orientation: Up is -90.9 degrees E of N

 
Charts and image details obtained from Astrometry.net

 

Optic(s): 16" f3,75 Dream Corrected Astrograph (DCA)
Mount: Astelco NTM-500 direct drive mount
Camera: Apogee Alta U-16M CCD camera
Filters: Lum, Red, Green, Blue, Astrodon
Dates/Times: 27, Aug 2014
Location: Namibia-TIVOLI ASTROFARM, S 23° 27' 40,9" / E 18° 01' 02,2"
Exp. Details: L: 4x10min, R: 3x10min, G: 3x10min, B: 3x10min, Bin 1
  Total Exposure Time - 130 min (2:10 hours)
More details: Dark and flat frames reduction,
Processing: PixInsight / PS
 
Copyright: Velimir Popov and Emil Ivanov 2014. All Rights Reserved
 
e-mail: info@irida-observatory.org
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