NGC 300: Spiral Galaxy in Sculptor

NGC 300 is a late-type spiral galaxy (SA(s)d) in the constellation Sculptor, about 6 million light-years away. It is also known as the Sculptor Pinwheel Galaxy and is listed as Caldwell 70. Its apparent size is about 22 by 15.5 arcminutes, and its spiral arms are loosely wound. James Dunlop discovered it in 1826.

Its distance has been measured from Cepheid variable stars. NGC 300 was traditionally counted as a member of the Sculptor Group, but recent distance measurements place it in the foreground, probably as a gravitationally bound pair with NGC 55.

Blue knots of young stars and pink star-forming regions are scattered along the arms. The outer regions of the disc are faint, which is why a long luminance integration was used to bring them out.

The data was captured remotely from Swan Reach, South Australia, over seven nights, in collaboration with Paride Gabini, Rino Morra, Federico Palaia and Alessio Carmine Scipione, on a rig operated with NINA at Swan Reach Imaging (https://swanreachimaging.com.au). The frames were collected jointly by the group sharing the rig. Stacked and processed in PixInsight.