NGC 2907 is a lenticular galaxy (S0) located in the Hydra constellation, approximately 118 million light-years away,. It spans an apparent size of 2.0 × 1.2 arcminutes, corresponding to a physical diameter of about 50,000 light-years.
This galaxy features a broad bubble like halo, well-defined dust lanes traversing its disk—dark structures of interstellar dust that absorb background starlight, giving the galaxy a striking appearance. These lanes are concentrated in a warped, disk-like formation near the core, likely remnants of past gas-rich interactions or internal dynamics.
The core exhibits subtle asymmetries and a slightly disturbed dust structure, suggesting possible past interactions with other galaxies, though no secondary nucleus is visible. These characteristics hint at a long-ago minor merger or gravitational encounter with another galaxy.
MCG -3-25-1, the smaller, edge-on galaxy located in the lower right of the image, has a radial velocity of 1,850 km/s, as per the HyperLeda database. Assuming a Hubble constant of 70 km/s/Mpc, this velocity suggests a distance of approximately 86 million light-years.
While MCG -3-25-1 appears close to NGC 2907 in the image, the difference in their estimated distances indicates they are not physically close. The absence of tidal bridges or visible distortions supports the conclusion that there is no clear evidence of a strong gravitational interaction between them.
Imaged in LRGB on my Planewave CDK 1000 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Image acquisition and processing: Mike Selby