NGC 7049

NGC 7049
NGC 7049 is a lenticular galaxy that spans about 150,000 light-years and lies about 100 million light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Indus. Its structure might have arisen from several recent galaxy collisions. NGC 7049’s unusual appearance is primarily due to the unusually prominent dust ring, seen mostly in silhouette. The opaque ring is much darker than the millions of bright stars glowing behind it. Generally these dust lanes are seen in much younger galaxies with active star forming regions. This interesting target is quite small in the field of view and is therefore not often imaged.

Imaged in LRGB on our CDK 1000 at El Sauce, Obstech, Chile
Image Processing: Mike Selby. Integration Time 29 hours