NGC 7331 and Stephan's Quintet

Two showpieces of Pegasus in one field. NGC 7331 — the anchor of the “Deer Lick Group” — is a graceful flocculent spiral about 40 million light-years away, once considered a twin of the Milky Way; the smaller galaxies scattered behind it are ten times more distant, a chance line-of-sight grouping. In the same frame sits Stephan’s Quintet, the first compact galaxy group ever discovered (1877): four of its five members are locked in a slow-motion collision some 290 million light-years out.

All renders are in the gallery folder, and the image is on AstroBin.

Equipment

• Telescope: Askar 107PHQ
• Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM DUO
• Mount: Sky-Watcher Wave 150i strain-wave mount
• Filters: Baader LRGB (CMOS-optimized), 2 in
• Accessories: Askar M54 OAG, MeLE Quieter4 mini PC, Pegasus Astro FocusCube 3
• Software: N.I.N.A., PHD2, Green Swamp Server, PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom Classic