Mark Hanson, S. Mazlin, W. Keller, R. Parker, T. Tse, P. Proulx, D. Plesko; SSRO/PROMPT/CTIO
NGC 1097
A barred spiral galaxy in Fornax, this image contains over 90 hours of data, making it the longest total exposure in the history of SSRO (just a little longer than NGC 3521). The 50 hours of luminance data had an average FWHM of 1.3" before any sharpening algorithm was used.
4 dim mysterious jets emanate from the galactic center -- this image shows 2 of them -- the more obvious is at the approximate 8:30 position, and a slightly fainter one comes down from the upper left corner of the image. You can just begin to appreciate an even fainter jet originating about 180 degrees from the 8:30 jet.
The current theory is that the jets are actually the shattered remains of a cannibalized dwarf galaxy.
Telescope:16" RCOS f11.2 Planewave HD Mount
Camera: U9
Location: SSRO, Cito Chile