M74

[alan4908]

Located in Pisces, M74 is a face on spiral galaxy 30 million light years away. Due to its very low surface brightness, it is also known as the phantom galaxy. Blue stars and red ionised hydrogen regions dominate the outer arms, whilst older yellow stars are prevalent towards the core. Gravitation forces from two nearby satellite galaxies, slightly distort the spiral structure. In recent years, several supernovas have also been detected.  Finally, have a look in the background for tiny distant galaxies, some of which display ring structures.  

This LRGB image represents 15 hours and was taken with my Esprit 150.

Alan

LIGHTS: L:39,R:18,G:19,B:15 x 600s.

[Dan_Paris]

Very detailed view of a photogenic galaxy, nicely done!

[alan4908]

On 12/02/2023 at 15:38, Dan_Paris said:

Very detailed view of a photogenic galaxy, nicely done!

Thanks - BlurXterminator helped with extracting the detail ! 

Alan

[gorann]

Very impressive image Alan! I guessed that BlurXT had been involved but obviously it had great data to work with.

[tomato]

Yes, a great image of a challenging galaxy👍🏼

[alan4908]

9 hours ago, gorann said:

Very impressive image Alan! I guessed that BlurXT had been involved but obviously it had great data to work with.

Thanks Gorann - yes, the data was not too bad, I'm also fortunate to have quite dark skies in this part of the UK.

7 hours ago, tomato said:

Yes, a great image of a challenging galaxy👍🏼

Thanks ! 

Alan

[MartinB]

A beautiful image Alan

[alan4908]

On 16/02/2023 at 10:03, MartinB said:

A beautiful image Alan

Thanks Martin !

Alan