NGC 7331, The Deer Lick Group

NGC 7331 is one of the most impressive spiral galaxies in the sky. It is the brightest galaxy not to be included in the famous Messier catalog of 100+ objects familiar to most amateurs. Some refer to this galaxy as our own Milky Way Galaxy's twin due to its appearance, but recent research suggests that our galaxy is actually a barred spiral. NGC 7331 is often called the Deer Lick Group named by Tomm Lorenzin coinciding with his best view of the group during a trip to the Deer Lick Gap in the Smokey Mountains. At 40-50 million light years, NGC 7331 is moving away from us at over 500 miles per second and is slightly larger than our own galaxy. The "smaller" galaxies in the image are far in the distant and probably of similar size and mass to this galaxy. The stats for this galaxy are RA: 22h 37m 04.5s, Dec: +34° 25' 00", Mag: 9.4 (V), Size: 14.5'x3.7', Class: SA(s)b.

Optics:	RC Optical System 20" F/8.2 (4165.6 mm Focal Length)	Date:	October 2010
Camera:	SBIG ST10XME with Adaptive Optics	Location:	Columbus, Texas
Exposure:	LRGB = 400:120:80:120 minutes	Imager:	Kent E. Biggs