H-NGC3166
Galaxy in Sextans
About
In Sextans, this barred lenticular galaxy lies roughly 65 million light-years off and shows a bright elongated nucleus and dust lanes. A hydrogen tidal tail ties it to its partner NGC 3169. William Herschel found it in 1783, and it is in the Herschel 400 list.
Imaging tips
- About 5×2′, so it is too small to frame: use a long focal length and a fine pixel scale. Surface brightness is 21.5 mag/arcsec².
- NGC 3169 lies about 7.5′ away, so a wider field than the galaxy's own 5′ length is needed to hold both.
- One imager took 14 h of LRGB (18 × 20 min luminance, 8 × 20 min per colour) showing interaction signs: warped spiral arms, twisted dust lanes and broad tidal arcs.
- Best around February and March; it stays below 44° altitude from 50°N.
Facts
- Size
- 5′ × 2′
- Magnitude
- 10.4
- Coordinates
- RA 10h 13.7m, Dec +3° 26′
- Framing, APS-C
- longer than 4000 mm
- Framing, full frame
- longer than 4000 mm
- Best months
- Feb, Mar
- Peak altitude
- 43° from 50°N, 58° from 35°N