M58

[alan4908]

The galaxy M58 is located in the Virgo constellation and is approximately 65 million light years from Earth with a disk diameter of approx 110 thousand light years. 

It's relatively low in new star formation, having little hydrogen gas which is concentrated in its elliptical core. The core is relatively dim and is believed to contain a  super-massive black hole of 70million solar masses.  Images of this object are rare on SGL, so I thought I would attempt to capture it. 

The LRGB image below represents just over 10 hours integration time and was taken with my Esprit 150. If you look closely,  you can see a few details of the core. 

Alan

 

LIGHTS: L: 24, R: 12, G:12, 14 x 600s. DARKS:30, FLATS:40, BIAS:100 all at -20C. 

[MartinB]

These small galaxies are such a challenge and this has been beautifully captured and processed.

[ollypenrice]

Ooh yes, that's a thriller! Lovely stuff.

Olly

[domstar]

That's great. I love the way it's set with a large background. It really makes the picture. Hats off.

[alan4908]

18 hours ago, MartinB said:

These small galaxies are such a challenge and this has been beautifully captured and processed.

Thanks Martin - yes, they do make it a little more challenging. FYI I would have liked to gather a little more data on this one but it disappeared below my local horizon before my normal integration time was complete.

18 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Ooh yes, that's a thriller! Lovely stuff.

Olly

Thanks Olly 

 

17 hours ago, domstar said:

That's great. I love the way it's set with a large background. It really makes the picture. Hats off.

Thanks for the comment. I'm not normally a large background fan with small objects, however, in this case, it seemed the best option.

Alan