Galaxies


M95M95  also known as NGC3351 is a mag 9.7 barred spiral galaxy in the Leo Constellation.  It is about 38 million light years away.  This image was taken on April 20, 2004 on a night with poor seeing.   I managed to take only 40 minutes of raw images before the clouds ended the session early.    I 'spect to be replacing this image in the not to distant future as soon as the sky cooperates again.



M81M81 - Bode's Galaxy's bright central core at mag 6.8 can be seen easily with binoculars; it is located between the bucket of the Big Dipper and Polaris.  This 80 minute exposure taken on April 17, 2004 reveals the fainter spiral arms.    Bode's Galaxy is abou 12 million light years away and only about 150,000 light years away from the irregular galaxy M82,  which was deformed a few hundred millions years ago by a close encounter with the larger M81.



M64M64 - The Black Eye Galaxy is mag 8.5 in luminance at a distance of about 19 million light years.   This picture was taken in the early am hours of April 11, 2004.   It is made up from a series of 5 minute exposures that add up to 35:10:10:10 minutes of lrgb.   The dark area is dust that obscures the stars behind it.



NGC4565Edge-on Spiral Galaxy NGC4565 was imaged on the same night as M64 and consists of  35 minutes of lrgb exposure.  Subtle variations can be seen in the dark band surrounding the galaxy which glows at mag 9.6.    It is an estimated 31 million light years distant.   A second galaxy NGC4562 is visible on the left side of the image at a faint mag 13.97.



M101 M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy is near the handle of the Big Dipper and is a mag 7.92 object 27 million light years away.   It took three evenings worth of imaging sessions to finally get the right conditions for a decent shot on April 9, 2004.    This is a combination of 2 hours of exposure time, with lrgb of 90:10:10:10.



M63M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy. This classic spiral galaxy glows at mag 9.6.   It is a total of 1 1/4 hours of exposure time with 1 hour of luminance and 5 minutes each of rgb, taken on March 10, 2004 and processed the 11th and reprocessed on the 12th to this final image.




M100Spiral Galaxy M100 in the constellation Leo is distant 60 million light years away and glows at mag 9.3.    This image, taken on Feb 28, 2004 is a set of raws exposures totaling over 2 hours.  At least 4 other galaxies can be seen in the background in this picture:  from the main galaxy, at 5 oclock a Lenticular Galaxy, NGC4328 at mag 14.28; at 1 oclock Galaxy NGC4322 at mag 14.88; at 3 oclock Lenticular Galaxy VCC636 at mag 16.44; at 9 oclock Lenticular Galaxy IC783A at mag 16.66.   

Galaxies M65 and M66This image is of two galaxies that fit in the same image frame.   Galaxies M66 (top left) and M65 (bottom right) are companion galaxies and both are an estimated 35 million light years away.  This image is from a combination 4 luminance and 1 each RGB shots for a total of 35 minutes exposure time.  Image set was taken on Feb 27, 2004.     This one of the better images that I have produced to date.   There is considerable detail in both galaxies.   M66 reveals tightly wound spiral arms and a dark dust lane along the facing edge.   M65 shows a lot of hot blue areas indicating  active star forming regions.

Trio of GalaxiesA Trio of galaxies can be seen in this 1.5 hour long image, also taken on Feb 27, 2004.  Clockwise starting from the left galaxy they are:  M105 an Elliptical Galaxy at mag 10.10, NGC 3384 a Lenticular Galaxy at mag 10.72 and NGC 3389 a Spiral Galaxy at mag 12.42.   The Spiral shows some interesting detail compared to it's brighter companions.     The closest of the three is M105  at 38 million light years distant.    Interestingly they are all moving in a different direction and speed.    M105 is receding at 750 km/s and NGC 3389 is receding at 1138 km/h,



M106 Galaxy M106 is a peculiar spiral galaxy an estimated 25 million light years distant.  This picture is a total of 45 minutes of exposure time, taken on Feb 23, 2004.   M106 is moving away from us at 537 km/sec and is a fairly bright galaxy at mag 8.4.




M51M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy is 37 million light years away.   Located near the end of the handle of the Big Dipper, it is two separate galaxies  that appear to be interacting.      This sequence of images was taken on Jan 31, 2004 and totals 35 minutes of exposure time, LRGB 20:5:5:5.




M108Galaxy M108 is an estimated 45 million light years away.    It is moving away from us at 772 km / sec.   (looks like it's standing still to me) This image taken on Jan 23, 2004  is more than 1 1/2 hours of exposure time.    LRGB of 40:20:20:20 minutes




Irregular Galaxy M82Irregular Galaxy M82 - Near the bowl of the Big Dipper, it appears to be broken up by a collision with Galaxy M81 an estimated 600 million years ago.     M82 is an estimated 12 million light years away and glows at mag 8.4.   This image is a total of 22 minutes of exposure time with LRGB of 10:4:4:4 minutes each.   Image sequence taken on Jan 21, 2004.



NGC 891   Edge-on Spiral Galaxy NGC 891 -  This 75 minute composite image was taken on Jan 9, 2004.    It is a challenge to see in many telescopes at a faint mag 10.    This galaxy is estimated to be 31 million light years away.     ( or about 180,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles! )




Galaxy M81   Spiral Galaxy M81 - This 30 minute luminance only shot was taken on January 1, 2004.  The sky was so hazy that mag 2 stars were barely visible.   I shot this picture expecting a horribly bad image.  Much to my surprise and delight it came out only crappy!      ( I'll get a decent galaxy image soon!)




NGC 2903  NGC 2903 - A spiral galaxy located between 20 and 26 million light years away.   This image is a total of 75 minutes of exposure, using a combination of 4 images LRGB 30:15:15:15; taken on Dec 27, 2003.     The shots were taken using a 2.5x optical multiplier to increase the size of the object, which makes it harder to focus... an obvious problem here.     I put a lot of time into taking this image so I had to post it here even though it is poor.


M33 Galaxy  Spiral Galaxy M33  is located in the Triangulum Constellation 3 million light years away.   This image was taken on  August 24, 2003 and is a combination of 18 one minute images.