In the final image of what has been a very productive and educational 2023, I present two galaxies, Messier 77 (top) and NGC 1055 (bottom).

M77 is interesting because of the ring-like structure around it which is readily visible thanks to its face-on on orientation to us. NGC 1077 is nearly edge-on and presents a distinct central bulge surrounded by a well-defined dust lane.

M77 is a barred spiral galaxy though the bar is not visible in optical wavelengths. It also has an active galactic nucleus though again, that is also not visible to us at optical wavelengths. It is about 47 million light years away.

NGC 1055 is a bit further away at 52 million light years and appears to be gravitationally associated with M77. Both are in the constellation Cetus.

This is 29h 50m of RGB data. You can find all the technical details on astrobin.