Whir­li­gig Galaxy (NGC 488) in Pisces

Whirligig Galaxy (NGC 488) Astrophotography Martin Rusterholz

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NGC 488 is known as a pro­to­type of a multi-armed spir­al galaxy with a nearly per­fect spir­al struc­ture, seen 46° from face-on. It’s angu­lar size meas­ures 5.5′ x 4.0′ and light needs about 95 mil­lion years to travel from this island in uni­verse to us. Wil­li­am Her­schel dis­coverd this galaxy in 1784 in the con­stel­la­tion of Pisces. Des­pite its small appar­ent size, the true dia­met­er meas­ures about 150’000 light-years.

North is at about 4 o’c­lock in this image.

[descrip­tion from O’Meara]

Details

Tele­scope:
RCOS 14.5″ f/​8
Mount:
ASA DDM85
Cam­era:
Apo­gee U16M
Fil­ters:
Astro­don Gen2
Expos­ure:
LRGB 680:180:180:180 min.
Loc­a­tion:
ROSA Remote Obser­vat­or­ies South­ern Alps
Author:
© Mar­tin Ruster­holz, Astrophotographer

Find­er Chart Whir­li­gig Galaxy (NGC 488)

NGC 488 Galaxy Astrophotography Martin Rusterholz Skychart

Image cre­ated by Skychart

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About Me

Hello, my name is Martin Rusterholz. I’m a Swiss amateur astrophotographer living near Zurich, the biggest town in Switzerland. My interest in astronomy started when I was 16. At that time, I built my first Newtonian telescope and mount. I studied physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) which was the only study including at least some aspects of astronomy and astrophysics. “Looking at the nights sky is an experience touching everybody deeply inside, something common to all human beings independent to the language spoken by the individuals”. Deep-sky astrophotography is my passion.

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