|
|
|
Instrument |
12.5" RCOS @
~f/9 (2880 mm fl) 0.643 arcsec / pixel. Zoomify image scale is
0.96 to 2.88 arcsec / pixel. |
|
Mount |
Paramount ME |
|
Camera |
SBIG STL-11000 w/ internal filter wheel, AstroDon Filters |
|
Acquisition Data |
12/19/2009 to
12/24/2009 Chino Valley, AZ... with CCDAutoPilot3 & CCDSoft. |
|
Exposure |
Lum
330 min (22 x 15 min, bin 1x1)
RGB
225 min ( 5 x 15 min each, bin 2x2) |
|
Software |
-
CCDSoft, CCDStack,
Photoshop CS w/ the Fits Liberator plugin. Noel Carboni's actions
and Russell Croman's GradientXTerminator.
-
eXcalibrator for (b-v) color calibration, using 9 stars from
the NOMAD1 database.
-
PixFix32 (pre-beta) to
repair hot/cold pixels and column defects.
-
CCDStack to calibrate,
register, normalize, data reject, combine the sub exposures & LRGB
color.
-
PhotoShop for LLRGB
combine &
on-linear stretching.
|
|
Comment |
North is to the top.
NGC1961 is disturbed
galaxy, about 171 million light-year from Earth, toward the
constellation Camelopardalis. Its unusual asymmetric appearance has
also earned it a spot in Arp's Catalog of Peculiar Galaxies as
number 184. Given the galaxy's apparent size and brightness, it is
one of the largest in our local area of the universe.
The cause of NGC1961's peculiar appearance remains unsolved as there
are no nearby galaxies large enough for gravitational interaction
create the distortion. It is possible that the odd shape is the
result of a past merger with another galaxy.
|
|
