NGC 1291 is also listed as NGC 1269 as it was entered twice in the New General Catalog by two different 19th century observers who did not realize it was the same object.
NGC 1291 is around 33 million light years away from Earth and is estimated to be 12 billion years old. It is an unusual galaxy as it is a ring galaxy with a bar and an outer ring and is considered transitional as it becomes a lenticular galaxy. This is because while the main part of the galaxy is mature, as can be seen there the ring area has substantial star formation.
Imaged in LRGB and H alpha on our Planewave CDK 1000 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile
Image Processing: Mike Selby