NGC253 GALAXY on 2023-09-08
This photo was taken in Kyle, Texas, under Bortle 5.9 skies, through a 6-inch f/4 Telescope, on a Sky-Watcher EQ6-R mount, with a ZWO ASI533MC PRO color camera. Plus an Optolong L Pro Light Pollution Filter. The processing was done with PixInsight. The total image acquisition time is: 04 hrs 03 min 00 sec. Full Size View Full size files are very large and can take a minute to download. After downloading the full-size picture to zoom in or out on a computer hold down the Ctrl key and use the scroll mouse button, or you can press the + or - key. Wide Field View
The Sculptor Galaxy (also known as the Silver Coin,
Silver Dollar Galaxy, NGC 253, or Caldwell 65) is an intermediate spiral galaxy
in the constellation Sculptor. The Sculptor Galaxy is a starburst galaxy, which
means that it is currently undergoing a period of intense star formation. NGC
253's starburst has created several super star clusters near NGC 253's center
(discovered with the aid of the Hubble Space Telescope): One such star cluster
has a mass of 1.5 million solar masses. An even more massive star cluster,
heavily obscured by NGC 253's interstellar dust, has a mass of about 14 million
solar masses. The super star clusters are arranged in an ellipse around the
center of NGC 253, which from the Earth's perspective appears as a flat line.
Star formation is also high in the northeast of NGC 253's disk, where many
red supergiant stars can be found. Other peculiarities found in NGC 253 suggest
that a gas-rich dwarf galaxy collided with it 200 million years ago, disturbing
its disk and starting the present starburst. NGC 253 is located about 10.89
million light-years from our Earth. Research suggests the presence of a
supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy with a mass estimated to be
about 5 million times that of our Sun.
