Interesting galaxy, found beside another classification image
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by Abaedan
Hi there, being new here I've only begun to learn to use tools like DECaLS browser and learning about reading the meaning of spectral charts, etc, but I thought I'd share this interesting object. It appears to be a spiral, interesting visible colours and structure. Seems to have some distortion. Skyserver's interactive spectrum has no info on whether its star forming etc.
http://legacysurvey.org/viewer?ra=188.0230&dec=20.2645&zoom=14&layer=decals-dr3
http://skyserver.sdss.org/dr9/en/tools/explore/obj.asp?ra=188.0230&dec=20.2645
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by Budgieye moderator
Most of the galaxy stars seem to be located at the 12 oclock position of the galaxy. Maybe the result of a tidal trail being pulled back into the galaxy as the result of a "recent" collision.
The spectral chart is faint, so very jagged. It is flat, so there are the same number of young and old stars, so not star-forming. I can just make out the Hydrogen alpha peak, so there is some hot hydrogen. This hot hydrogen is probably from the slightly active black hole.
There is a galaxy nearby with a similar spectrum at a similar distance z=0.063, also with a slightly active black hole. Possibly there was a collision between the two in the past.
http://legacysurvey.org/viewer/jpeg-cutout/?ra=188.0231&dec=20.2645&zoom=15&layer=decals-dr3
http://skyserver.sdss.org/dr9/en/get/specById.asp?id=2941004288584869888
http://skyserver.sdss.org/dr9/en/tools/explore/obj.asp?id=1237667915958452415
Posted
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by Abaedan
@Budgieye, thank you for that information! I would ask about how we know the activity level of the black holes, but I'm going to read up on that myself and not trouble you here for explanations. Much appreciated.
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