Camera: Finger Lakes Instrumentation ML8300M

Mount: Paramount ME

Scope: Supernova Astrograph

Colors: L:R:G:B

Exposure Time: 24x600s Luminance : 10x300s RGB binned

Post-Production: MaxIm DL, Photoshop CS, PixInsight, CCDStack 2

The tightly wound arms of the spiral galaxy NGC 7479 (also known as Caldwell 44) create an inverted ‘S’, as they spin in an anticlockwise direction. However, at radio wavelengths, this galaxy, sometimes nicknamed the Propeller Galaxy, spins the other way, with a jet of radiation that bends in the opposite direction to the stars and dust in the arms of the galaxy. Astronomers think that the radio jet in NGC 7479 was put into its bizarre backwards spin following a merger with another galaxy. This striking galaxy is easily visible in moderate telescopes as an elongated fuzzy patch of light. The spiral arms can be seen with more difficulty in larger telescopes under dark conditions. (Text description from APOD)