©-Josep M. Drudis, 2017, Mount Lemmon Sky Center, AZ, USA
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NGC 521 is a distant, quite peculiar galaxy. A more detailed observation of its central area, yields a distinct dust circle with tiny spiral arms that shape its center. This shape is characteristic of much more active galaxies (like NGC 1097 or NGC 1365). Anyhow, this galaxy belongs to the LLAGN (Low Luminosity Active Galaxy Nuclei). This galaxy class shows Seyfert-type spectrum, but its level of emission is about 100 times lower. Coincidentally, our own Milky Way has been also classified as LLAGN, having an active supermassive black hole in its center (M. Contini, 2011). The quieter, lower-level emission is related to a slower accretion rate onto its central supermassive Black Hole.
The raw data, used for this image, have been taken by Adam Block with the Schulman Telescope at the Mount Lemmon Sky Center, Arizona USA.
Additional Information
Object
Name(s): NGC 521
Type: Spiral Galaxy (LLAGN type)
RA: 01h 25m 27s
Dec: +01º 49’ 14”
Constellation: Cetus
Size (arcmin): 2.7×2.4
Magnitude: +11.7
Distance: 206 Mly
Image
Date: November 2015
Location: Mount Lemmon Sky Center, Mount Lemmon, Arizona, USA
Size (arcmin): 19×14
Telescope: Schulman 32″ f/6.9
Camera: SBIG STX16803 (4096x4096pix)
Guiding: Astrodon MonsterMOAG off-axis guider
Total exposure: 26h20min (L: 9h40min; RGB: 16h40min)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CC 2017