Thursday, May 21, 2015

M101 Pinwheel Galaxy

The Pinwheel Galaxy is an face-on spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major and is approximately 21 million light years away.  The Pinwheel has several different galaxies near it as seen in the image.  To the lower right is NGC 5474 which is being torn apart by the Pinwheels massive gravitational pull.  The interaction between the Pinwheel and other surrounding galaxies gives the Pinwheel a neat spiral design.

M101
(Lum) 5min X 18
(R) 15 min X 5
(G) 15 min X 5
(B) 15 min X 5
Camera: QSI683wsg at F/5
Telescope: Takahashi FSQ106N
Mount: Celestron CGE Pro


Location: Fort Davis, TX
Dates: May 17, 2015
Captured with Nebulosity and guided with PHD guiding.
Processed with MaxIm DL 5 and photoshop.

Saturday, May 2, 2015

NGC 3628 Hamburger Galaxy

NGC 3628 is often called the Hamburger Galaxy because of its divided dust lanes.  At a distance of 35 million light years away, this galaxy can be found in the constellation Leo the Lion.  At a wider field of view, this galaxy is one of three galaxies that make up the Leo Trio.

NGC 3628
(Lum) 15min X 12
(R) 15 min X 4
(G) 15 min X 4
(B) 15 min X 4
Camera: QSI683wsg at F/7
Telescope: Celestron 11" Edge HD
Mount: Celestron CGE Pro
Location: Lubbock and Fort Davis, TX
Dates: Multiple nights on February 14, 2015 (Luminance) and April 19, 2015 (RGB)
Captured with Nebulosity and guided with PHD guiding.
Processed with MaxIm DL 5 and photoshop.