Sunday, July 22, 2018

Not Mars, How About Mice from Deep Space Instead?

All astronomy sessions were clouded or rained out this weekend.

It's the new telescope curse!

No, I didn't get a new telescope, but a friend of mine did.  It's a large Dob and he has been wanting to upgrade for quite a while.  So, of course, he has the new telescope and the entire east coast has clouds and rain!

😃

The weather forecast even throws next weekend's astronomy opportunities into doubt.

So, instead of a fresh new image of Mars from this weekend, here is an image taken from my backyard of another one of my favorite dim magnitude deep space objects.  This was from a observing session in April.

NGC 4676A and NGC 4676B

Meet NGC 4676A and B.  Also known as the "Mice Galaxies."

They are 14.1 in magnitude and what makes them special is that they are interacting with each other in such a fashion that their shapes are perturbed -- they have sprouted tails.  Hence, they have gained the moniker "Mice Galaxies."


Space Mice!
They are dim deep space objects, so here is an inverted image to help you see the details.  


Space Mice Inverted Image!
NGC 4676A's tail is fairly visible.  NGC 4676B's tail is very tenuous.

Next week?  Hoping for another Mars observation session!





4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I wonder what they eat. You'd think that mice galaxies would prefer cheese nebula or something. ;-)

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  2. We needed the rain, but can't it come when it's convenient? Hopefully next weekend will work out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perhaps I can persuade DW that when we need rain that I should take advantage of the new telescope curse and buy some new astronomy gear! That ought to have the same effect as buying a new telescope, doncha think? ;-)

      Delete

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