NGC5906/5907 in Draco – the splinter galaxy

About the Object

NGC5907, also known as the knife-edge galaxy or the splinter galaxy,  is an essentially bulgeless Sc galaxy which we can see nearly edge on, thus revealing very prominent dust lanes. Its peculiarity is that only very few giant stars are detectable in NGC5907, most of the light apparently comes from (relatively low metallicity) dwarf stars. The fainter part of the galaxy westward of the dust lanes has the NGC number 5906.

Observation Notes

The splinter galaxy received quite a bit of popularity in the past 20 years: Despite its relative isolation it features a  very extended but faint (and partially controversial) tidal tail. Not visible though in this image for sure, it would need a much deeper exposure (difficult to achieve in the short northern summer nights), less moon (the image were taken at bright time) and a darker sky (imaging from suburbia). Furthermore,  I am still a bit struggling with proper flats for my new equipment. Maybe some later year...

Data were taken on 2024 May 19, 20, and 23

Technical Details

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