SBIG ST-4000XCM
16x15 Minutes
Imager Temp -20C
Celestron 9.25 Reduced 0.63
50% Crop
Link to Larger JPEG

Wikipedia Astronomy Picture of the Week - Week 21, 2010

Astrophotogallery.org January, 2010 Hard Category Winner

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day January 1, 2010

NGC 891 is an edge on unbarred spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by William Herschel on October 6 1784. The galaxy is a member of the NGC 1023 group of galaxies in the Local Supercluster.

The finding of large amounts of molecular hydrogen (H2) in NGC 891 has raised the question of whether "dark matter" may be partially due to molecular hydrogen. According to two Dutch astronomers, most or all of it may be ordinary molecular hydrogen (H2), which, unlike atomic hydrogen (H), is invisible except at certain infrared wavelengths.

NGC 891 is one of those objects that makes you wonder how Messier missed it.

November 12, 2009