NGC 6740 is a barred spiral galaxy 27 million light years away in the Andromeda constellation. This is a galaxy that I rarely see imaged, even though it is over 10 arcminutes in length. After imaging most of the big, common targets, I wanted to give some time to a galaxy that doesn’t get much love. Throughout September, October, and November, I collected 46 hours on this target over nine nights. The patience was worth it, and I find the detail I was able to get from the galaxy remarkable. You can see dust lanes around the core, numerous red and pink star forming regions, and a deformed outer spiral arm that is thought to be from an astronomically recent interaction with another galaxy. While not one of the most populated fields I have observed, there are still quite a few small background galaxies to be found.
The full field reveals a lot of faint foreground galactic dust and perhaps some integrated flux nebulae. This image fills me with a great sense of the lonesomeness of deep space. Though this colorful streak, full of worlds of now and to be, drives the imagination, its isolation is a striking reminder of the ever expanding universe we live in. To be born at a time when the sky is still full of these wonders is a blessing.
