NGC 2997 - Galaxy in the constellation Antila

This beautiful spiral galaxy is located in the inconspicuous constellation of Antila - the Air Pump. It is inclined only about 40° to the line of sight and shows a wealth of details. The two loosely winding spiral arms contain many star-forming regions with reddish emission nebulae. Around the core area, the arms merge into a bright ring with nodes, which are huge star clusters.

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Date:24.05.2023
Optics: Planewave CDK 12.5 with Televue 0.8x reducer
Aperture: 318 mm
Focal Length: 2030 mm
Camera: Alccd 12
Exposure: 15 x 600 s
Location: Chamaeleon Observatory, Onjala Lodge, Namibia
Processing: PixInsight, Photoshop
Diameter:100,000 light years
Distance:40 million light years
annotated image

image field in the sky