Object

M95 Galaxy

Object Information

Image information

Object Type

Galaxy (Spiral) Type SBb

Instrument

LX200GPS 14” OTA @ F6.7 effective FL≈2382mm

Constellation

Leo

Guiding

SXV / SkyWatcher 80mm achro @ F/6

Magnitude

+9.7

Focal Reducer

AstroPhysics 0.67x

Coordinates

RA 10:44.90 Dec +11:42

Mount

Paramount ME

Size

4.4 x 3.3 arc min

Location

Stoney Hills, S.E England

Distance

38 Million Light Years

Acquisition Date

14th March 2007

Notes

M95 is an example of a Barred Spiral Galaxy. It is a member of the Leo I / M96 grouping. It has a somewhat unusual centre in that it has the appearance of being split into 3 equal parts.

M95 was discovered by Pierre Méchain on the 20th of March 1781. Heber D. Curtis (famous for the theory that ‘Spiral Nebulae’ were actually other galaxies like our own Milky Way, proposed in 1920) described the centre of M95 as “trinuclear”

In the image above I have attempted to keep the bright centre unsaturated to just about show it’s “trinuclear” nature whilst still maintaining contrast in the spiral arms.

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

RGB

FOV

≈13 x 9.7 arc mins (0.56 arcsec/pixel)

Exposure

135 m Total

Integration

R (9 x 300 sec bin 1x1)

G (9 x 300 sec bin 1x1)

B (9 x 300 sec bin 1x1)

Notes

This image was the first taken after a rebuild of the LX200 optical tube assembly after finding the primary mirror was loose... It shows a great improvement in quality over recent attempts. However the imaging sequence was started at the end of an evening of calibrating the setup and was just a quick attempt to see what difference the rebuild had made.

Sky conditions were quite poor with a lot of sky-glow and haze but unusually hardly any wind or cloud. Whilst there is still plenty of room for improvement I’m quite pleased with the result.