NGC 4565 - Coma Berenices

NGC 4565

Object data: NGC 4565 in the constellation of Coma Berenices is a relatively bright (magnitude 9.6), large galaxy, noteworthy for its spectacular appearance caused by the angle of the galactic plane being almost precisely edge-on as seen from the earth. NGC 4565 was discovered by William Herschel in 1785 and is estimated to be 31 million light years distant. This image is oriented with north at the top - the galaxy at the lower right of frame is NGC 4562.

Date of exposures: 26/02/09
Location: Southern France
Conditions: Calm, Transparency=8, Seeing=5
Optics:
RCOS 12.5" Ritchey-Chretien with custom field flattener working at f/9.5
Mount: AP 900 GTO on Portable Pier
Camera:
SBIG STL-11K, SBIG LRGBC filter set, -30°C
Guiding: Integral STL-11K autoguider
Exposure: LRGB Seq: 10x 15 minutes; 3x 15: 9.75 : 15 minutes (binned 2x2).

Processing: Image acquisition and initial processing was done using Maxim DL, subsequent processing was done using Registar and Photoshop.

Notes: Seeing was poor for this shot (and persisted throughout the February trip), nonetheless the result is an improvement on my previous image (taken with the SBIG ST-8E in 2001). Exposure subs were too short - should have been 25 minutes optimally.

 

 

 

 

All text and images Copyright © 1997-2022 by Philip Perkins. All rights reserved.