Spiral galaxy NGC 613 and the search for the progenitor of
SN 2016gkg. Pockets of star formation are visible as green nebulas of gas in this near-infrared and visible image. The galaxy's bar is quite distinct and completely within the bounds of the image, but much of the outer arms are not included. I will mark the approximate position of the supernova with a Flickr annotation. I find the circumnuclear ring of star formation to be especially beautiful in this image, though you'll have to zoom in to see it clearly.
I spent a good number of days working on this, which feels incredibly slow compared to the pace I've been keeping with the single filter (grayscale) images of galaxies from the past couple of months. There were a whole lot of cosmic rays to deal with, and I did my best, though there are still a few hiding here and there. I bumped up the saturation a good bit along with the clarity and dust texture of the nucleus.
Data from the following proposal were used to create this image:
The Progenitor of Supernova 2016gkg
Red: ACS/WFC F814W
Green: ACS/WFC F606W
Blue: ACS/WFC F435W
North is 25.19° counter-clockwise from up.
