Spaceimages - Astrofotografie by Jens Zippel

NGC 2146 is a barred spiral galaxy of Hubble type SB (s)ab pec in the constellation Camelopardis in the northern hemisphere. It is about 40 million light years away from the solar system and has a diameter of about 75,000 light years.

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Object:	NGC 2146
Date of exposures:	12.02.2018, 13.02.2018
Distance:	40 Mio. Lightyears
Exposures:	Lum: 47 x 420 Sec., RGB: 108 x 360 Sec., Sum: 15,8 hrs.
Telescope:	10'', F4 Newton
Focal length:	1000 mm
Filter:	Astrodon LRGB E-Series
Camera:	Atik 460Exm
Guiding:	Off Axis Guider, Lodestar
Mount:	EQ8

The galaxy shows strong deformations and an increased rate of star formation, indicating a close encounter with an accompanying galaxy. However, the spiral galaxy NGC 2146A, which at first sight seems to be too far away and is probably a random object in the background.

Despite the visible morphological disturbance, NGC 2146 cannot be found in the Arp catalogue. In a recent work by A. Tarchi (2004, MNRAS) the HI absorption in the central region of the galaxy was investigated with deep radio observations. Here, a disk structure was found, as it is typical for an undisturbed (!) spiral galaxy in its spatial structure and the measured velocities. There was no evidence of an anomalous matter distribution indicating an earlier galaxy contact. The disturbances are therefore limited primarily to the outer areas of the spiral arms of NGC 2146.

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