NGC 2997 is a near face-on grand design unbarred spiral galaxy about 40 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Antlia. It displays two prominent arms.
With a disk that is inclined 45 degrees to our line of sight, NGC 2997 has an oval appearance. The inner disk is covered with dust lanes, silhouetted against the central part of the galaxy, which shows a high surface brightness.
Its small nucleus, likely contains a supermassive black hole, and also displays an interesting structure with a concentration of an older population of yellowish stars. The nucleus is surrounded by a chain of hot giant clouds of ionized hydrogen.
Imaged in LRGBHa on our Planewave CDK 1000 at Observatorio El Sauce, Obstech, Chile
Integration Time: 44 hours
Image Processing: Mike Selby