Also known as Caldwell 53,this lenticular (S0)-Galaxy in the constellaiton of Sextans normally is listed as NGC3115.
Its a huge galaxy with a mass several times that of our own milky-way.At a distance of about 22mio light-years its apparent size is 7,2′ × 3,2′ with a brightness of 9.3mag.
Because of its edged-on presentation,there hardly can be detected any spiral structure of this galaxy.
A huge billion-solar-mass black-hole inside was examined by the CHADRA X-ray Observatory.You can read more about this with help of link down at this page.
Very little star-formation happens inside NGC3115:there is nearly no dust and gas left over for triggering such events.
NGC3115 was first seen by William Herschel in 1787.
position (epoch 2000):
Ra.: 10h 05m 14s
Decl.: -07° 43′ 07″
image data:
LRGB image from L = 24x1200s
RGB = 7x1200s each
a total of 15.0hours
80cm f/7 AstroOptik Keller corrected cassegrain
FLI Proline 16803 Astrodon LRGB Gen-II filters
Prompt 7 CTIO/UNC Chile,remote controlled
image processing: Bernd Flach-Wilken
In this 21`arc-minutes squared FOV you can detect the Spindle Galaxy NGC3115 as a perfect eded-on galaxy.
For full resolution click HERE
here is a more detailed version of NGC3115:
HERE you find a picture taken with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESO´s VLT,including a descrition concerning the black-hole inside NGC3115.