The galaxies of Abell 2666 lie far beyond the Milky Way, some 340 million light-years distant toward the high flying constellation Pegasus. Framed in this sharp telescopic image, the pretty cluster galaxies are gathered behind scattered, spiky, Milky Way stars. At cluster center is giant elliptical galaxy NGC 7768, the central dominant galaxy of the cluster. As the cluster forms, such massive galaxies are thought to grow by mergers of galaxies that fall through the center of the cluster’s gravitational well. Typical of dominant cluster galaxies, NGC 7768 likely harbors a supermassive black hole. At the estimated distance of Abell 2666, this cosmic frame would span about 5 million light-years. NASA
IMAGING DATA
Provo, Utah
Bortle 5 sky
Date: 10/20/2023
Image: ABELL 2666
Camera: ZWO ASI2600 MC Pro in Hyperstar Position
Filter: STC Astro Duo-Narrowband
Temperature: -5 deg C
Gain: 100
Binning: 1×1
Exposure: 180 seconds
# of Lights: 123 for 6 hours 6 minutes
Telescope: Celestron 1100 Edge HD
Hyperstar IV Camera mount
Mount: 10Micron GM1000HPS
Pier: Steel pier on 600 lb concrete block
Observatory: NexDome “Y Mountain Observatory”
Software used
Deep Sky Stacker, Pixinsight, Photoshop
