The Silver Sliver Galaxy
About this image
NGC 891 The Silver Sliver Galaxy
Seen almost perfectly edge-on, NGC 891 is a beautiful spiral galaxy in the constellation Andromeda, around 30 million light-years away.
Diameter: roughly 100,000 light-years
Type: Spiral galaxy
Distance: ~30 million light-years
Magnitude: about 10.8
Orientation: Almost exactly edge-on from Earth
One of its most striking features is the dark dust lane running straight through the centre. If we could somehow view the Milky Way from the side, astronomers think it might look surprisingly similar.
NGC 891 is also surrounded by faint streams and structures, evidence that galaxies are not static objects, they grow, interact and evolve over enormous timescales.
Image details
| Object type | galaxy |
|---|---|
| Catalogue | NGC 891, PGC 9031, C 23 – NGC 891 – PGC 9031 – UGC 1831 |
| Constellation | Andromeda (And) |
| Observed | 2026 Sep 22 – 00:30 UTC |
| Location | Portsmouth, UK |
| Moon | Waxing Gibbous – 78% illuminated – age 10.2 days |
| WordPress categories | Galaxies |
Equipment
| Telescope | Skywatcher 127 Mak |
|---|---|
| Camera | ZWO ASI2600MC Pro |
| Mount | Juwei 17 |
| Filter | None |
| Focal length | 1500mm |
| F-ratio | f/11 |
| Pixel scale | 0.52 arcsec/pixel |
Acquisition
| Exposure | 227 x 60s |
|---|---|
| Gain | 100 |
| Guiding RMS | Not recorded |
Processing notes
Normal processing using PixInsight.
Posted from CityAstroLog.