M77 — Cetus A
Galaxy in Cetus
About
NGC 1068, a barred spiral galaxy in Cetus about 35 million light-years away, also called the Squid Galaxy. It is a prototype type 2 Seyfert galaxy: dust hides its active nucleus at visible wavelengths. Messier and Herschel both took it for a star cluster.
Imaging tips
- About 7′ by 6′, so 3,460–5,770 mm on APS-C; it is too small for full frame to fill.
- The core is very bright. One 28-hour RASA 8 project mixed 60-second and 300-second subs and credited the short ones with a detailed, natural core.
- The same imager warns that an overblown core makes processing hard, and cropped tightly because the galaxy looks small at 400 mm.
- It shares a wide field with NGC 1055. Best around October and November; it stays below 40° altitude from 50°N.
Facts
- Size
- 7′ × 6′
- Magnitude
- 8.9
- Coordinates
- RA 2h 42.7m, Dec −0° 1′
- Framing, APS-C
- 3460–5770 mm
- Framing, full frame
- longer than 4000 mm
- Best months
- Oct, Nov
- Peak altitude
- 40° from 50°N, 55° from 35°N