Object

M106 (NGC 4258)

Object Information

Image information

Object Type

Galaxy (Spiral) Type Sbp

Instrument

LX200GPS 14” OTA @ F5 effective FL≈1778mm

Constellation

Canes Venatici

Guiding

SXV / SkyWatcher 80mm achro @ F/6

Magnitude

+8.4

Focal Reducer

Optec NextGen 0.5x

Coordinates

RA 12:19.0 Dec +47:18

Mount

Paramount ME

Size

19 x 8 arc min

Location

Stoney Hills, S.E England

Distance

25 Million Light Years

Acquisition Date

20 - 22nd April 2007

Notes

M106 is a large bright galaxy in the constellation of Canes Venatici.

The bright blue features on the inner sprial arms are thought to be areas of large young stars which characteristically shine in this colour. These stars burn their hydrogen fuel at a prodigious rate so have short lives. So these areas are probably still active star forming regions.

M106 was originally discovered by Pierre Méchain in the 1700’s

Capture Device

Starlight-Xpress SXV-H9 Sony ICX285AL Exview HAD Cooled CCD Array 1392 x 1040 @ 6.45uM / Pixel 

Filter Type

Astronomik Type IIc RGB

Colour Technique

LRGB

FOV

≈16.38 x 12.24 arc mins (0.706 arcsec/pixel) before cropping

Exposure

257 m (4.3 hours) Total

Integration

L (182 x 40 sec bin 1x1)

R (70 x 41 sec bin 2x2)

G (70 x 32 sec bin 2x2)

B (67 x 46 sec bin 2x2)

Notes

This image represents the culmination of the previous 2 months of adjusting and rebuilding the Optics, Mount and software in my imaging system.

Most optical and mechanical adjustments to mount, scope and imaging train are now approaching the best accuracy’s I can realisably expect. (or they were before last weeks earthquake... and earthquakes are unheard of around here)

All raw iimages with FWHM of > 3.0 pixels (measured by CCDInspector) rejected. RGB Combining and stretching in Maxim, Layering and luminance channel combining and further processing in Photoshop.