Gallery, page 2
Galaxies far and farther
Jim Mazur used a 14″ Meade LX850 telescope at f/6 and an SBIG ST-8300M imager to photograph some distant galaxies.
This spiral galaxy is NGC 7331 in the constellation Pegasus. It is estimated to be about 47 million light years away. Its oblong shape can be seen in even small telescopes. To its left are four smaller and dimmer galaxies that are much farther away, as their relative sizes suggest. However, they are still bright enough to be observed visually through the eyepiece of a large telescope, and many amateur astronomers have seen them.
Below is a view of Abell 2151, known as the Hercules Galaxy Cluster. At an estimated distance of 500 million light years, it is one of the most distant galaxy groups that can be seen in amateur telescopes. Look closely (or click on the link below to view a larger version this image) and you can see a great variety of galaxy sizes and shapes. To capture these dim galaxies, Jim used the following total exposure times: 225 minutes of luminance (that is, through a clear filter), and 30 minutes each through red, green, and blue filters.
