APOD: NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans (2010 Mar 25)

[APOD Robot]

NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans

Explanation: Distorted galaxy NGC 2442 can be found in the southern constellation of the flying fish, (Piscis) Volans. Located about 50 million light-years away, the galaxy's two spiral arms extending from a pronounced central bar have a hook-like appearance in wide-field images. But this mosaicked close-up, constructed from Hubble Space Telescope data, follows the galaxy's structure in amazing detail. Obscuring dust lanes, young blue star clusters and reddish star forming regions surround a core of yellowish light from an older population of stars. The sharp Hubble data also reveal more distant background galaxies seen right through NGC 2442's star clusters and nebulae. The image spans about 75,000 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 2442.

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[neufer]

NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans

Explanation: Distorted galaxy NGC 2442 can be found in the southern constellation of the flying fish, (Piscis) Volans.

[list][list]James Joyce's _Finnegans Wake_[/list]
[page 488.15] One might hear in their beyond that lionroar in the air
again, the zoohoohoom of Felin make Call. Bruin goes to Noble,
aver who is? If is itsen? Or you mean Nolans but Volans, an
alibi, do you Mutemalice, suffering unegoistically from
the singular but positively enjoying on the plural?
Dustify of that sole, you breather![/list]

[strangerbarry]

This picture is interesting. If you look down from the centre of NGC 2442 toward roughly eight o'clock, you can actually see THROUGH NGC 2442 to see a more distant galaxy behind it. Eyeballing it, I'd estimate it to be about 250 - 300 million light years out.

[wonderboy]

This picture is interesting. If you look down from the centre of NGC 2442 toward roughly eight o'clock, you can actually see THROUGH NGC 2442 to see a more distant galaxy behind it. Eyeballing it, I'd estimate it to be about 250 - 300 million light years out.

I seen that and was wondering what the hell it was. i suppose it does look like a galaxy. it probably is, i'm not gonna guess its distance though

[neufer]

NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans.

Explanation: Distorted galaxy NGC 2442 can be found in the southern constellation of the flying fish, (Piscis) Volans. Located about 50 million light-years away, the galaxy's two spiral arms extending from a pronounced central bar give it an ominous hook-shaped appearance.

Waw (wāw, also spelled vav or vau) (In Hebrew: Vav) is the sixth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic (in abjadi order; it is 27th in modern Arabic order). The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek digamma (Ϝ, whose name in Greek was probably Ϝαυ) and upsilon (Υ), and Etruscan V (V, V); V later developed into U and W.

Waw is derived from a hieroglyph depicting a hook.

[biddie67]

What a magnificent view of NGC 2442 and peeks of all the other galaxies out there. I'm not complaining here but I do wish that Hubble could have been allowed to record more of the extents of those two spiral arms .... what a tease ....

[DonAVP]

Have all of you noticed that these new images from Hubble are huge. If you go back and look at the image in the 90's they are all very small (just a couple of hundred pixels on a side). This image is 3,500px × 2,715px for example. COOL!

[rstevenson]

This picture is interesting. If you look down from the centre of NGC 2442 toward roughly eight o'clock, you can actually see THROUGH NGC 2442 to see a more distant galaxy behind it. Eyeballing it, I'd estimate it to be about 250 - 300 million light years out.

I seen that and was wondering what the hell it was. i suppose it does look like a galaxy. it probably is, i'm not gonna guess its distance though

I don't think it's all that uncommon to see distant galaxies through the thinner regions of closer ones. I can pick out at least 10 of them peeking through NGC 1300 in this 2008 APOD.

Rob

[owlice]

WOW! That's a gorgeous picture, Rob!

[rstevenson]

Yes, that's one of my favourites. I often use APODs or other-sourced images as desktop images on my Mac -- personal use only, of course. I have at least 250 of them vieing for my attention at the moment, a little over half of them various space scenes and the rest Mars images. (Right now I'm staring down into the Melas Chasma.) But NGC 1300 gets more than its fair share of exposure.

Rob

[DavidLeodis]

It is a nice image, but I prefer the following APOD images of NGC 2442:- 2007 March 15 and 2009 February 28.

[wonderboy]

My favourite galaxy photo has to be the sombrero galaxy, I couldnt be bothered searching the above NGC 2442 SO I apologise if this is the sombrero galaxy and also apologise for not knowing the scientific name of my favourite galaxy.


What an idiot, its the same galaxy, I disagree, the above image is better than those images. the sombrero galaxy rocks though. What an idiot am I? I need to stop diving in.

[bystander]

The Sombrero Galaxy is designated M104 or NGC 4594.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080308.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070505.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070121.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060115.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011021.html

[wonderboy]

cheers bystander

[BMAONE23]

My favourite galaxy photo has to be the sombrero galaxy, I couldnt be bothered searching the above NGC 2442 SO I apologise if this is the sombrero galaxy and also apologise for not knowing the scientific name of my favourite galaxy.


What an idiot, its the same galaxy, I disagree, the above image is better than those images. the sombrero galaxy rocks though. What an idiot am I? I need to stop diving in.

I have to agree with you on the M104 sentiment. this is one of my fav's of the Sombrero But you can't beat the High Res 7 meg image

[wonderboy]

The thing that gets me is that there are billions of galaxies within our observable universe. Take our galaxy for example, its absolutely massive like other galaxies, and in one of its spiral arms there is a sun with a planet capable of holding life called earth. How can you look at billions of galaxies, never mind one and say that there isnt any chance of life? Thats what I think when I look at galaxies. I wonder if there is any life contained within it, and most times end up agreeing with myself that there is .