Cosmic contrasts – NGC891 and Abell 347

About the Object

Cosmic contrasts - the joy of getting two objects of largely different size, distance or nature into one frame. Here: the edge-on disk galaxy NGC891 and the galaxy cluster Abell 347.

NGC 891, a.k.a the Silber Sliver Galaxy,  is a posterchild of an edge-on (unbarred) galaxy at a distance of some 30 MLy.  It stands out with is pretty spectacular structured dust lane.

As an Sb-type galaxy, it often is shown as the reference of what the Milky Way would look like, if we could see it edge on - well actually not quite, as the Milky Way has a bar.

NGC891 is also dear to my heart as it was the object of choice when we had first light on the 2x8.4m Large Binocular Telescope 20 years ago (well at first light it still was a monocular telescope ...).

Abell 347 is part of the Pisces-Perseus super cluster at a distance of 250 Million Ly and contains some 40 galaxies with quite a diversity of mirphologies.

HD14771, a yellow 6.7mag star near the center of the image and  right between the two aforementioned objects nicely rounds off the scenery.

Observation Notes

Data were taken on 2024 October 23, 26 and 27

Technical Details

View the full-resolution image together with complete acquisition and processing details on AstroBin.