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
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