M94 Croc's Eye Galaxy

[x6gas]

Hi folks,

Here is my attempt at imaging Messier 94, The Croc's Eye Galaxy (also known as the Cat's Eye Galaxy but for me this definitely has something of the crocodile about it...), a pretty face on spiral galaxy in the constellation of Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs.  It lies about 15 million light years from Earth and measures around 50,000 light years in diameter.

It's a really interesting object not least because the bright starburst centre is surrounded by a faded outer ring of older stars, part of which shows up as a faint halo in the image below.  However, IR and UV images reveal spiral arms in the outer ring which also has star forming regions.  Even more interestingly from a scientific point of view, the galaxy seems to have enough luminous material to explain its shape and motion and therefore is thought not to have any "dark matter".  It's already been well studied but I have a hunch that M94 has secrets it has yet to give up...

Imaging it was a bit tough given the short nights and lack of astronomical darkness but a run of clear nights from 25-31 May meant I was able to capture a bit more than 11 hours of useable data.

Kit: CEM60EC; SW Esprit 150; Atik EFW2.2 with Astrodon filters; Atik OAG, QHY5L II with PHD2; Atik 460ex.

The data, 45 x 300s in each of R, G, and B, was captured with SGPro and processed in PI and PS.  I enjoyed processing it too, now that I am getting a bit more familiar with PI.  I am also recalling some of the PS tricks and techniques and more importantly I'm remembering how I like the end result to look so I think I'm pretty happy with this one.

There are loads of other galaxies in the star field.  PI's annotation script captures a few but close inspection reveals loads of others.

Thanks for looking.

Clear skies, Ian

Edited June 6, 2020 by x6gas

[MarsG76]

What a great looking and interesting galaxy.. that faint ring around it makes this image very interesting..

[MarkAR]

Great example of the Croc, lovely image.

[rubecula]

that's a beautiful image, really fascinating.

[x6gas]

9 hours ago, MarsG76 said:

What a great looking and interesting galaxy.. that faint ring around it makes this image very interesting..

Many thanks for the comment Mars.

3 hours ago, MarkAR said:

Great example of the Croc, lovely image.

Thanks Mark - it's good of you to comment.  I appreciate it.

1 hour ago, rubecula said:

that's a beautiful image, really fascinating.

Thanks Robin, much appreciated.  I really enjoyed this one.

[MartinB]

That's stunning Ian.  Great depth, fine detail and lovely delicate colouration.  Ticks all my boxes and some more.  Top notch imaging

[x6gas]

Thank you Martin - that's very kind especially as it was your excellent tutorials that got me started.

I feel I am finally getting somewhere near where I was before a work enforced break of 4 years so I appreciate the encouragement.

[x6gas]

Duplicate post!

 

Edited June 6, 2020 by x6gas

[x6gas]

6 hours ago, MartinB said:

... lovely delicate colouration...

Incidentally the data will stand much more colour saturation but I think this is more me.