Galactic Drama in Coma Berenices

Image Title: NGC 4725, NGC 4747, and NGC 4712 and some tidal effects

Copyright: Pascal Gourau

Date image was taken: May 02, 2025

Location: Portugal -Alentejo Remote Observatory

Data Acquisition Method: Remote Observatory (Commercial)

Description and Details: An image from the cosmos taken with my telescope remotely installed in Portugal.
This superb trio of galaxies is located in the region of the Coma Berenices constellation. NGC 4725 (right) and NGC 4747 (left) are neighbors, at a distance of 45 to 56 million light-years respectively. The galaxy NGC 4712, at the upper right, is in the background, about 207 million light-years away. A gravitational interaction with the spiral galaxy NGC 4725 is the generally accepted cause of the strong distortion of the smaller galaxy NGC 4747. NGC 4725 is a Seyfert galaxy, with a very active nucleus and a single arm wrapping around the nucleus. Its nucleus likely contains a supermassive black hole.
The image was captured with a cooled ASI2600MM black and white camera equipped with filters (LRVB-SHO) and a 304mm Ritchey-Chretien telescope with a 2m focal length, on an Astrophysics AP900 mount.
For processing, I favored an LRGB mix with a GHS histogram boost to manage the high-dynamic-range details in the arms and nucleus.
The total cumulative exposure time is 35.8 hours, including 15.8 hours of RGB and 20 hours of Luminance.

Name: Pascal Gouraud