Beautiful fluffy galaxy in Leo - NGC3521

[tooth_dr]

It's pretty small, and limited data to 2 hours, 300s ISO800.  I scrapped all the subs after the moon rose, as the colour was so washed out.  Seeing was really bad too, and guiding wasn't great, but this is a stunner of a galaxy, reminds me a bit of M63.

 

Thanks for looking.

@Ben the Ignorant big thanks to you again, for suggesting an unusual target!

 

From Wiki

"NGC 3521 is a flocculent intermediate spiral galaxy located around 26 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Leo. It has a morphological classification of SAB(rs)bc, which indicates that it is a spiral galaxy with a trace of a bar structure (SAB), a weak inner ring (rs), and moderate to loosely wound arm structure (bc). The bar structure is difficult to discern, both because it has a low ellipticity and the galaxy is at a high inclination of 72.7° to the line of sight.  The relatively bright bulge is nearly 3/4 the size of the bar, which may indicate the former is quite massive. The nucleus of this galaxy is classified as an HII LINER, as there is an H II region at the core and the nucleus forms a low-ionization nuclear emission-line region."

[paul mc c]

crackin image again.

[EyeGuy]

The M63 resemblance is striking. Nice shot, and definitely bears some magnification.

Barry

[Demonperformer]

Very nice, if a little small . It's always good to see an unusual target.

[tooth_dr]

1 minute ago, Demonperformer said:

Very nice, if a little small . It's always good to see an unusual target.

Thanks DP!  I find it helps if you sit really close to the screen

[celestron8g8]

Size wise how is it compared to M65 & M66 ? 

[tooth_dr]

1 hour ago, celestron8g8 said:

Size wise how is it compared to M65 & M66 ? 

It’s very slightly bigger and about 7 times dimmer then M66. 

[Ben the Ignorant]

NGC 3521 is an island of interest in a blank part of the sky, as big galaxies go.

[Ruud]

Much detail in the galaxy! Thanks for a wonderful image.

[Paul M]

Very nice image.

Although I actually like wide images like this, it's work clicking for the full size image. It gives away the galaxy's real size when you can see some structure.