Perseus A / C 24 / NGC 1275
| Name | Perseus A |
| Designation(s) | NGC 1275, C 24 |
| Object Type(s) | Galaxy, Galaxy Cluster |
| Relevant Catalog(s) | All (Chron), Caldwell, NGC |
| Obs. Lat/Long | 42° 17', 073° 57' |
| Constellation | Perseus |
| Date and Time Observed | 2025-09-18 23:37:00 |
| Instrument | EdgeHD 8" w/f7 reducer-1,422mm FL |
| Camera | Player One Apollo-M Mini |
| Image Details | Up is 263.1 degrees E of N. Transparency: Fair. Seeing: Good. Total integration time was 56m 45s. Exposures 15s@300g, No Filter. Dithered and recentered in SharpCap. No guiding. |
| Description | Stayed up late for Perseus A to rise sufficiently. This is an enigmatic object. It is a Seyfert 1.5 galaxy, which essentially means its nucleus is a Quasar, which makes it extremely bright. Or to adopt more modern language, it has an Active Galactic Nucleus, a super-massive black hole surrounded by an extremely energetic accretion disk that is generating this light. This illuminates a glowing gas shell surrounding the galaxy. I was pleased that my image captured the thread-like filaments in the gas shell, though they are much clearer in the Hubble Space telescope comparison image in the gallery. These filaments, red in the Hubble image, and lighter gray in mine, are composed of cool gas being suspended by a magnetic field. The filaments mark a process through which energy is transferred from the central massive black hole to the surrounding gas. |
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