Barred spiral galaxy drawing full#

A 16-inch scope will reveal a surface punctuated with knots of unresolved stars and clouds of ionized hydrogen. Through a 6-inch telescope, NGC 3109 appears as a faint mist measuring three to four times longer than it is wide, but you’ll need to be under a really dark sky to see it through that aperture. This nearby barred spiral galaxy belongs to the Local Group.

To find it, point your telescope 7.2° northwest of magnitude 4.3 Alpha (α) Antliae. This week’s second large-telescope target is barred spiral galaxy NGC 3109 in the constellation Hydra the Water Snake. A magnitude 10.2 star lies a bit more than 2″ east of the nebula. It has a diameter of 11″, which is only a couple of arcseconds smaller than how Mars appeared at its largest in 2012.Ī 12-inch scope at 300x reveals a bright edge with an ever-so-slightly darker central region. Through 4-inch and larger telescopes, NGC 2867 appears robin’s-egg blue to most observers. This bright planetary - magnitude 9.7 is bright for this class of object - will take all the magnification you can throw at it. The bar running through the galaxy is actually a group of stars from the center of the galaxy. You have to look at it from a different angle to see the spiral. Four categories are used to classify galaxies: spiral barred spiral elliptical and irregular. Seen from the side, though, it simply looks like a circle. What Is a Spiral Galaxy A spiral galaxy typically has a rotating disc with spiral ‘arms’ that curve out from a dense central region. You’ll find this target 1.1° north-northeast of magnitude 2.2 Aspidiske (Iota Carinae). A barred spiral galaxy, as the name suggests, is a galaxy that forms a spiral with a bar running through it. Sir Patrick Moore included this object in his Caldwell catalog as number 90. This week’s first large-scope object is planetary nebula NGC 2867 in Carina the Keel. O’Meara likened the image to a golden earring dangling from a pirate’s ear. Dunlop drew the cluster as an oval of stars dangling from two rows of parallel stars.

Barred spiral galaxy drawing full#

Still, what you detect will span a diameter of 74′ - more than 5½ times the area of the Full Moon.Īstronomy magazine Contributing Editor Stephen James O’Meara coined the common name (among others) for this cluster from a drawing by Australian astronomer James Dunlop, who lived in the first half of the 19th century. The brightest is magnitude 6.38, which sits just to the east of cluster’s center.īecause of the richness of the surrounding star field, you’ll have trouble following the cluster’s boundary to its very limit. Through any size telescope, you’ll see a dozen stars that shine at magnitude 9 or brighter. It lies in a dense star field 1.9° south of magnitude 1.7 Regor (Gamma Velorum). At magnitude 4.7, NGC 2547 is easily visible to the naked eye from a dark site. Oh, my! Here’s a gorgeous object that, unfortunately, many Northern Hemisphere observers have never seen. This week’s small-telescope target is the Golden Earring, otherwise known as open cluster NGC 2547 in the southern constellation Vela the Sails.