This is an image of UGC 5829, a little-studied and even less-frequently photographed galaxy.? It¡¯s about 30M light-years away in the direction of Leo Minor.? It¡¯s classified as an irregular galaxy, akin to the Magellanic Clouds, and has enough gas to support active star formation.? The galaxy has a low surface brightness, so it benefits from dark skies and longer integration times. The sobriquet of ¡°spider galaxy¡± was actually introduced by professional astronomers on the basis of images obtained from a few sky surveys.? The surrounding field of view is filled with distant galaxies, they¡¯re all over the place.? I¡¯ve rotated the target by 90 degrees to make it look a little more ¡°spidery¡±.
The image was captured during 5 nights in March-April 2024 from SkyPi Remote Observatory using a 12.5" PlaneWave scope and a QSI-640ws camera at f/8 for a final LRGB integration of 18.7 hours.
Thanks for looking,
Bruce W.
