New Images of M102
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has released an image of the edge-on galaxy NGC 5866.
In it, we can see a dust lane dividing the galaxy (which is also known as M102) into two halves, as well as the nucleus and it's halo.
NGC 5866 is a S0 type disk galaxy, which if viewed face on, would look like a smooth, flat disk with little spiral structure. Whilst there is little spiral structure, it is classified with the traditional spirals (such as M51 and the Milky Way) because of it's flatness. This distinguishes them from the other main type of galaxies, the ellipticals, which are usually thought of as being shaped like rugby balls ! These S0 galaxies are often called lenticular galaxies.
The dust lane itself appears to be slightly warped, which may indicate that NGC 5866 underwent a gravitational tidal disturbance having encountered another galaxy.
NGC 5866 lies in Draco, at a distance of 44 million light-years, and has a diameter of roughly 60,000 light-years. It can be viewed by FT North during morning sessions until July. Simply select M102 - exposures of around 30-45 seconds in colour should work well.
