NGC 157 – Cet
NGC 157 in Cetus
Cetus is a huge constellation crossing the skies in Autumn/early Winter for northern observers. Its stars are not among the brightest ones, so its shape is only known to experienced observers. It hosts a number of deep sky gems, some extremely famous, as Messier 77. But it is not the only treasure hidden there.
NGC 157 is a wonderful spiral galaxy, showing wonderful arms, resembling the shape of the “S” letter. It shows prominent H II regions, making it a great targets to be spectrosciopically investigated. In particular, the rotational velocities of its stars has been found to be quite peculiar. Its distance is estimated around 70 millions of light years.
The picture above comes from the average of twelve, 300-seconds exposures, remotely collected with the PlaneWave 17″+Paramount ME+SBIG STL-6303E robotic unit part of the Virtual Telescope Project. Images were unguided.
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