A Spiraled Sentinel in Aquarius
NGC 7606 is a striking unbarred spiral galaxy located about 98 million light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. Seen nearly edge-on, its luminous central bulge is encircled by tightly wound spiral arms that exhibit rich detail, from clusters of young blue stars to intricate lanes of interstellar dust.
Faint hydrogen-alpha emission is visible not only along the arms but also near the nucleus, hinting at ongoing star formation even in the inner regions—an uncommon feature in galaxies with such prominent bulges. The dusty arms sweep across the starlight, casting dark contours that enhance the sense of depth and motion within the galactic disk.
Measuring around 165,000 light-years in diameter, with an apparent size of 5.5 by 2.1 arcminutes, NGC 7606 floats in a field peppered with distant background galaxies.
Imaged in LRGB and H alpha on my Planewave CDK 1000 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Image acquisition and processing: Mike Selby