Galaxies
NGC 5746 in Virgo

This is a barred spiral galaxy with a prominent dust lane, seen almost edge-on, lying at a distance of 95 million lightyears. With a diameter approaching 200,000 lightyears, it is almost twice the size of our own galaxy – so will contain over half a trillion stars.

The smaller barred spiral galaxy in the lower right-hand corner is NGC 5740. It is thought to be at a similar distance to NGC 5746, so is less than a third of its size.

This LRGB image is the result of 2.5h of data capture over 2 evenings in March and May 2021, remotely imaged from Spain with an SBIG STL-6303 camera through a 12.5-inch Planewave CDK reflector.

Date: 05/05/2021

Photographer: Graham Wilcock

NGC 5746 in Virgo

This is a barred spiral galaxy with a prominent dust lane, seen almost edge-on, lying at a distance of 95 million lightyears. With a diameter approaching 200,000 lightyears, it is almost twice the size of our own galaxy – so will contain over half a trillion stars.

The smaller barred spiral galaxy in the lower right-hand corner is NGC 5740. It is thought to be at a similar distance to NGC 5746, so is less than a third of its size.

This LRGB image is the result of 2.5h of data capture over 2 evenings in March and May 2021, remotely imaged from Spain with an SBIG STL-6303 camera through a 12.5-inch Planewave CDK reflector.

Date: 05/05/2021

Photographer: Graham Wilcock