Moravian instruments, Inc., source: https://www.gxccd.com/art?id=518&lang=409, printed: 28.03.2024 17:12:44

Main pageObservations

M77 barred spiral galaxy in Cetus
 M77 in the constellation Cetus is a nice example of barred spiral galaxy, luckily oriented that we can see it almost directly from the direction of its rotation axis. As opposite to normal spiral galaxies, spiral arms do not originate in the galaxy central bulge. A straight bar of stars extends from the bulge instead, and arms start to develop into a characteristic spiral only from the end of the bar.

This deep and sharp image of M77, acquired by Frédéric Lambert with his G4-16000 camera ASTROSIB RC400 telescope, shows also the very dim outer portion of spiral arms, where spiral form a ring of stars far from the galaxy center. Total exposure time exceeds 16 hours.