NGC 6951 in galactic cirrus

[wimvb]

NGC 6951 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Cepheus, at a distance of about 65 Mly. When the light that was captured here left the galaxy, dinosaurs still roamed the earth.

The galaxy has a diameter of about 75 000 ly, or 3.5 x 2.6 arcminutes. The galaxy is surrounded by galactic cirrus, or ifn.

The image was taken with the Liverpool Telescope, La Palma, Canary islands (f/10, 2 m mirror, 0.3 "/pixel resolution)

Red: 38 x 60 seconds

Green: 41 x 60 seconds

Blue: 152 x 60 seconds

Total integration time: 231 minutes.

This time, there was a vast amount of data, especially in blue. I let SubframeSelector do the work and kept only frames with smallest FWHM and eccentricity. (The most common problems with subs from the LT is either poor focusing or poor trailing. I wonder if they use a Bahtinov mask.)

Processed in PixInsight

[triton1]

Wow that is stunning,some great detail and colour there?

[wimvb]

Thanks, Jonn.

[simmo39]

Another nice one!

[gorann]

Yes,

another great one and this time with some bonus dust that is rarely seen in galaxy images.

I notice that the background show some blue patches up to the right. Do you think that is real (distant parts of the galaxy) or some odd gradient?

[wimvb]

Thanks, simmo and Göran.

I believe that the (blue) dust is real. Whether the colour should be as deep as shown here, is another matter. Rather than blending it in the background, or making it look like some other image, I decided to leave it as it is.

[gorann]

7 hours ago, wimvb said:

Thanks, simmo and Göran.

I believe that the (blue) dust is real. Whether the colour should be as deep as shown here, is another matter. Rather than blending it in the background, or making it look like some other image, I decided to leave it as it is.

I agree, when I look at your image again it really looks like extensions of the galaxy

[tony210]

Great dramatic image!- Tony