H-NGC1084
Galaxy in Eridanus
About
An unbarred spiral in Eridanus, about 63 to 70 million light-years away, on the Herschel 400 list. Five supernovae have been seen in it since 1963. For SN 2012ec, older Hubble images revealed a red supergiant of 10 to 20 solar masses as the progenitor.
Imaging tips
- At 3×2′ it is too small to frame: use a long focal length and a fine pixel scale.
- Surface brightness is 21.3 mag/arcsec², and as a galaxy it needs broadband. One amateur frame was five 120 s exposures through a clear filter, binned 2×2.
- Several poorly defined arms make up its disc, and its star-forming regions are not limited to those arms.
- Best in October and November; it stays low, peaking near 32° altitude from 50°N.
Facts
- Size
- 3′ × 2′
- Magnitude
- 10.7
- Coordinates
- RA 2h 46.0m, Dec −7° 35′
- Framing, APS-C
- longer than 4000 mm
- Framing, full frame
- longer than 4000 mm
- Best months
- Oct, Nov
- Peak altitude
- 32° from 50°N, 47° from 35°N