The Silver Coin Galaxy ( NGC 253 ) in the Sculptor constellation - updated.
24th March 2017: New version that was reprocessed ( again ) to improve colour balance ...
original version below ( colours are a little too yellow )
( click on image to see full size )
The Silver Coin Galaxy ( NGC 253 ) in the Sculptor constellation ( aka the Silver Dollar or Sculptor Galaxy ).
Caroline Herschel in 1783 was the first to recordthis bright ‘nebula’ in an area of the southern sky that Nicolas de Lacaille had called the “Apparatus Sculptoris” or “the sculptor’s studio”.
Whilst relatively close to us compared to the billions of far more distant galaxies in the Universe, the great size of the “Sculptor Galaxy” and the huge distances involved are still hard to comprehend. To put this into some perspective, the light that is just now reaching one edge of the great disc left the opposite edge when the Earth was in the grip of last great Ice Age 70,000 years ago and the light we now see has been travelling towards us for over 11 million years.
Details:
NGC 253 - "Silver Coin" or "Sculptor" galaxy.
RA 00 48 23, DEC -25 11 52.
Skywatcher Quattro 10" f4 Newtonian telescope.
Skywatcher AZ Eq6 GT Mount.
Orion Short Tube 80mm guide scope & auto guider - PHD2.
Baader MPCC Mark 3 Coma Corrector & no filter.
Nikon D5300 (unmodified).
Field of view (deg) ~ 1.35 x 0.90.
20 x 180 sec ISO 800, long exp noise reduction on.
Pixinsight & Photoshop.
4th November 2016
updated version 17 March 2017