Knife-Edge Galaxy Appears to Slice Through Space in Amateur Astronomer's Photo

By Nina Sen
published

NGC 5529 by Bob Franke
Galaxy NGC 5529 (FGC 1735) is located in the northern sky constellation Boötes (the Herdsman), approximately 140 million light-years from Earth. Bob Franke captured this image from the Focal Pointe Observatory in Chino Valley, Ariz., from April 3 to May 17, 2013. (Image credit: <a href="http://bf-astro.com">Bob Franke</a> / Focal Pointe Observatory)

A distant galaxy appears as a sliver in the night sky in this photo by an astrophotographer.

The galaxy (named NGC 5529) is rotated 135 degrees clockwise in this image. The galaxy is located in the Northern Hemisphere constellation Boötes (the Herdsman) and is located about 140 million light-years from Earth. It stretches around 250,000 light-years across — making it roughly two times the size of the Milky Way. [Stunning Photos of Our Milky Way Galaxy (Gallery )]

Bob Franke captured this photo from the Focal Pointe Observatory in Chino Valley, Ariz., from April 3 to May 17 of this year. He used a 12.5" RCOS telescope at ~f/9 (2880 mm fl), 0.64 arcsec/pixel, a Paramount ME mount, SBIG STL-11000 with FWB filter wheel, and AstroDon Gen II Filters to capture the image. You can see more of Bob Franke's astrophotography here.

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Nina Sen
Contributing Writer and Producer

Nina Sen is a freelance writer and producer who covered night sky photography and astronomy for Space.com. She began writing and producing content for Space.com in 2011 with a focus on story and image production, as well as amazing space photos captured by NASA telescopes and other missions. Her work also includes coverage of amazing images by astrophotographers that showcase the night sky's beauty.