New Image Sets Available In Starbase!

New image sets are available for downloading from Insight Observatory's Starbase Image Set Repository! Over the course of the past six months, all three remote Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) have been busy gathering image data for Starbase as well as various educational projects.

Listed below are just a few image sets that are now available and acquired on Insight Observatory's ATEO remote telescopes...

NGC 1365 - The "Great Barred Spiral Galaxy" in the constellation Fornax. Imaged data acquired on ATEO-3 by Franck Jobard and processed by Utkarsh Mishra.

ATEO-1 - 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector:

• M101 - Luminance (2020): Pinwheel Galaxy - 5 hours 
• M101 - Red, Green, Blue (2020): Pinwheel Galaxy - 7 Hours 10 Minutes

• M81-M82 - Luminance (2020): Bode's and Cigar Galaxies - 6 Hours 50 Minutes 
• M81-M82 - RGB (2020): Bode's and Cigar Galaxies - 17 Hours 15 Minutes

• NGC 5907 - Luminance (2020): Knife Edge or Splinter Galaxy - 20 Hours 20 Minutes

NGC 5907 - The Knife Edge or Splinter Galaxy (left) imaged on ATEO-1, M81, and M82 - Bode's and Cigar Galaxies (upper right) imaged on ATEO-1, and IC 405 - The Flaming Star Nebula (lower right) imaged on ATEO-2A.

ATEO-2A - 5" f/5.8 Wiliams Optics APO refractor:

• IC405 One-Shot Color (2020): Flaming Star Nebula - 3 Hours 30 Minutes

ATEO-3 - 12.5" f/9 Quasar Ritchey-Chretien:

• Gum 15 - Luminance (2020): Nebula in Vela - 12 Hours 20 Minutes 
• Gum 15 - RGB (2020): Nebula in Vela - 6 Hours 40 Minutes

• NGC 1365 - Luminance (2020): Great Barred Spiral Galaxy - 7 Hours 40 Minutes 
• NGC 1365 - RGB (2020): Great Barred Spiral Galaxy - 8 Hours 20 Minutes

Learn more about Insight Observatory's Starbase or download these and more image sets by logging in or signing up to Starbase HERE.

For any questions regarding Starbase, please Contact Us.

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Southern Galaxies Now In Starbase

There are new image sets available on Insight Observatory's Starbase for downloading! Franck Jobard co-owner of Deep-Sky Chile and Insight Observatory's affiliate remote telescope, ATEO-3 captured around 8 hours of luminance image data of galaxies NGC 1365 and NGC 1316-17-18 located in the southern constellation, Fornax. The image data was acquired in November and December of 2019. ATEO-3 is a 12.5" f/9 Quasar Ritchey Chretien, that is available for image requests on our Educational and Public Image Request forms as well as image sets for subscribing to in Starbase. Between gathering data for Insight Observatory's educational programs, Franck is currently in the process of capturing many hours of red, green, and blue image data through the 12" RC. This data combined will make for excellent color image processing of the galaxies.

NGC 1365 imaged on ATEO-3, 12.5" f/9 Quasar Ritchey Chretien - 8 hours of image data acquired by Franck Jobard and processed by Utkarsh Mishra.

NGC 1365 is a barred spiral galaxy in the Fornax cluster. Within the larger long bar stretching across the center of the galaxy appears to be a smaller bar that comprises the core, with an apparent size of about 50″ × 40″. This second bar is more prominent in infrared images of the central region of the galaxy, and likely arises from a combination of dynamical instabilities of stellar orbits in the region, along with gravity, density waves, and the overall rotation of the disc. The inner bar structure likely rotates as a whole more rapidly than the larger long bar, creating the diagonal shape seen in images.

NGC 1316-17-18 imaged on ATEO-3, 12.5" f/9 Quasar Ritchey Chretien - 8 hours of image data acquired by Franck Jobard and processed by Utkarsh Mishra.

NGC 1316 is a lenticular galaxy about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Fornax It is a radio galaxy and at 1400 MHz is the fourth-brightest radio source in the sky.

NGC 1317 (also known as NGC 1318) is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Fornax, in the Fornax cluster. It was discovered by Julius Schmidt on January 19, 1865. It appears to be interacting with much larger NGC 1316, but the uncertainty of distance and scales of tidal distortions make this uncertain.

Source: Wikipedia NGC 1365 and NGC 1316-17-18.

ATEO-3 Starbase Image Set Subscriptions:

• Standard: $0.20 per minute of image set exposure time
• Education: $0.17 per minute of image set exposure time

To learn more about Insight Observatory's Starbase CLICK HERE. To access Starbase, please log in or signup here.

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Observing the Great Barred Spiral Galaxy

As I may have mentioned in my previous posts, I have always enjoyed deep-sky observing with my telescopes. My favorite type of deep-sky object to observe is galaxies. I especially enjoy barred spiral galaxies due to their unique characteristics. Many of the observable galaxies with backyard telescopes are designated as "Faint Fuzzies" due to their low magnitudes and lack of characteristics through smaller telescopes. However, there are many galaxies that are observable with smaller backyard telescopes that have many distinct characteristics an observer is able to enjoy. For example... M51, "The Whirlpool Galaxy" in Canes Venatici, M31 - "The Andromeda Galaxy" in Andromeda, and M104 - "The Sombrero Galaxy" located in Virgo is to name a few that are visible in the northern hemisphere with smaller backyard telescopes.

NGC 1365 - The "Great Barred Spiral Galaxy" Imaged by Insight Observatory.

When I started flipping through the pages of the January 2016 issue of "Sky and Telescope" magazine, I almost immediately opened the publication to the article "The Definitive Barred Spiral - NGC 1365" in the "Observing: Going Deep" section by Howard Banich. Banich's article is well written and describes several of his observations of this island universe in great detail with quotes from his observing log as well as detailed sketches of NGC 1365 he recorded using different-sized telescopes and magnifications. Banich observed the galaxy utilizing a telescope with mirror sizes from 8" up to 28" over the span of a few years. The drawings and photographs of the barred spiral in the article gave me the inspiration to observe the galaxy myself. One problem... The galaxy can only be seen in the southern hemisphere.

NGC 1365, also known as the "Great Barred Spiral Galaxy", is located in the constellation Fornax. After reading Banich's article, I logged onto the remote robotic telescope network we use here at Insight Observatory and was able to acquire a 10-minute exposure of the galaxy using a one-shot color CCD camera (inserted in this article). I guess the point of this blog entry is to continue stressing the value of having access to remote robotic telescopes around the globe. I may not be able to visually observe this interesting deep-sky object due to my physical location here in the northeastern area of the United States, however, I was able to capture an image immediately from my desktop computer that I could process and study the fine characteristics this object has to offer.

Some Interesting Facts About NGC 1365:

NGC 1365, also known as the Great Barred Spiral Galaxy, is a barred spiral galaxy about 56 million light-years away in the constellation Fornax.

A very bright supernova was discovered by Alain Klotz with the TAROT telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile on October 27, 2012, in NGC 136. The supernova was designated 2012fr.

NGC1365 is a giant Seyfert-type galaxy with a diameter of 200,000 light-years. It is arguably the most prominent barred spiral in the sky.

The bar rotates clockwise with velocities in the nucleus of 2000 km/sec resulting in one rotation in 350 million years.

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