NGC 5866 is a lenticular galaxy lying about 50 million light-years from Earth. It is rare among lenticular galaxies in that it is bisected by a dust lane, which is extremely unusual for a lenticular. Also interesting is the extended faint halo surrounding the lenticular disk. This is evidence of recent merging with other galaxies. Lenticulars are thought to be a transitional form between spiral and elliptical galaxies. There is considerable evidence that NGC 5866 may be the missing M102 from Charles Messier's catalog and he simply made errors when recording its position. The galaxy partially appearing at lower left is NGC 5870.
Image Data:
Telescope/Mount: Celestron Compustar C14 with Astro Physics 0.75x reducer.
Camera:SBIG STL 11000M with Baader Planetarium LRBG filters.
Location: Pommier Observatory, Portland, OR, USA
Dates:2014-06-22 through 2014-06-29