NGC 3742 is a barred spiral galaxy located around 125 million light years away in Centaurus. The apparent size in the field of view is around 2’. At a magnitude of 12.1 the galaxy is relatively faint.
Also in Centaurus, NGC 3749 is a spiral galaxy seen edge on. It is situated 130 million light years from Earth. NGC 3749 has been used a “control” in studies of especially active and luminous galaxies — those with centres known as active galactic nuclei, which emit copious amounts of intense radiation. NGC 3749 is classified as inactive, and has no known signs of nuclear activity. This provides a baseline to measure other luminous galaxies.
Both galaxies have been rarely imaged.
Imaged in LRGB on our PlaneWave CDK 1000 for Luminance and PlaneWave CDK 700 for RGB at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Image Processing: Mike Selby and Mark Hanson