NGC 5907 – The Splinter Galaxy

This edge-on spiral galaxy is found in the constellation Draco, high in the northern sky.

At magnitude 11.1, it is about 50 million light years away and is only 12 arcminutes long. It presents a similar appearance to the more famous NGC 4565 (see here) but is less spectacular. It is however unusual in that it seems to be comprised of mostly dwarf stars and this may be linked to its low metallicity (a measure of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, that are synthesized in stars), since dwarf stars do not produce heavier elements as quickly as giant stars.

The small smudge to lower right is a distant galaxy, PGC 54419, magnitude 16.

Exposure times were 16 hours through each of red, green and blue filters.

Equipment: Planewave CDK14 corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope, Finger Lakes Instrumentation P9000 CCD camera, Astrodon RGB filters, Monster Moag off-axis guider with Starlight Xpress Lodestar Pro guide camera.

Acquisition software: ACP Expert Scheduler, Maxim/DL. Image processing: PixInsight.