NGC 1365 (with SN 2012fr)

Note: see below for location of supernova 2012fr.

Location: Warrumbungle Observatory, Australia (149 11 E, 31 16 S)

Date: 21 November 2012

Camera: QHY-9 and QHY filters

Telescope: William Optics M120

Frames: Sixteen 10 minute luminance frames and twelve 300 second exposures for each of RGB.

Processing: Stacked in CCDStack, balanced, curves, highlights and sharpening in Photoshope CS5.

Text adapted from APOD: Barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is truly a majestic island universe some 200,000 light-years across. Located a mere 60 million light-years away toward the chemical constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is a dominant member of the well-studied Fornax galaxy cluster. This sharp color image shows intense star forming regions at the ends of the bar and along the spiral arms, and details of dust lanes cutting across the galaxy's bright core. At the core lies a supermassive black hole. Astronomers think NGC 1365's prominent bar plays a crucial role in the galaxy's evolution, drawing gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom and ultimately feeding material into the central black hole. Discovered on October 27, the position of a bright supernova is below in NGC 1365. Cataloged as SN2012fr, the type Ia supernova is the explosion of a white dwarf star. 

Location of SN 2012fr