NGC 7331 is the large spiral galaxy to the lower left in this image. This galaxy is the largest member of the group of galaxies know as the Deer Lick Group. It has an apparent magnitude of 10.4 and lies in the constellation Pegasus at a distance of about 40 megalight-years away. This galaxy was discovered by William Herschel in 1784 and has been referred to as “the Milky Way’s twin” because of its similarity in size and structure to this galaxy we call home.
The small galaxy group to the upper right of this image is known as Stephan’s Quintet. It was discovered by Edouard Stephan in 1877 at Marseilles Observatory. The group consists of five galaxies (NGC 7317, NGC 7318A, NGC 7318B, NGC 7319 & NGC 7320) which form the first compact galaxy group ever discovered.
Other designations for NGC 7331: Caldwell 30, Deer Lick Group, Lyons Groups of Galaxies 459, LGG 459, UGC 12113, PGC 69327
Other designations for Stephan’s Quintet : Arp 319, Hickson Compact Group 92, HCG 92, Hickson 92
Telescope: Stellarvue Raptor SVR105 @ f/7
Accessories: Stellarvue SFF7-21 flattener; Dew control by Dew Buster; Alnitak Flat-Man
Mount: Takahashi EM-200 Temma2
Camera: QSI583wsg CCD @ -10.0C
Guiding: Starlight Xpress Lodestar via PHD
Filters: Astrodon Tru-balance E-Series Generation II LRGB
Exposure: 25 x 10min.(L) binned 1x1; 10 x 10min. each (R, G, & B) binned 2x2
Acquisition: ImagesPlus Camera Control v4.3
Processing: PixInsight 1.8
Post-processing: PixInsight 1.8; Adobe Photoshop CS5
Date(s): October 7, 8, & 9, 2013
SQM reading (begin - end): N1:19.08 - 19.43; N2:18.07 - clouds; N3:18.92 - 19.28
Temperature (begin - end): N1:56.5ºF - 49.3ºF; N2:62.8ºF - 55.8ºF; N3:67.8ºF - 59.2ºF
Location: Hendersonville, TN, USA