C43

About

NGC 7814, nicknamed the Little Sombrero, is a spiral galaxy in Pegasus that we see almost exactly edge-on, some 40 million light-years from us. Its disc spans roughly 60,000 light-years, matching the real Sombrero, and only looks smaller because it is farther off. Behind it lies a dense backdrop of faint, distant galaxies.

Imaging tips

• Only about 4.4′ × 1.9′, so it is too small to frame: use a long focal length and a fine pixel scale.
• A thin dust lane cuts across the bright bulge and halo; the disc is tilted very slightly off edge-on, so deep data can show dust lanes behind the halo.
• Broadband (LRGB) suits a galaxy. A published LRGB image of it totals about 15 hours: 460 min luminance plus 120–200 min per colour.
• At 21.5 mag/arcsec² it is moderately bright for its size, and the field behind it is crowded with faint background galaxies that deep stacks will pick up.
• Best in September and October; it peaks near 56° altitude from 50°N.