his is almost 4 hours of data in LRGB on a strangely shaped pair of galaxies, usually referred to as the Whale and Hockey Stick Galaxies. The larger Whale Galaxy (NGC4631) also has a dwarf companion galaxy (NGC4627) just to the right of it in this image. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -20C and Gain:139 Offset:21 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Light Frames: Luminance: 56 x 60 secs (56 mins) Red: 56 x 60 secs (56 mins) Green: 54 x 60 secs (54 mins) Blue: 54 x 60 secs (54 mins) Total Duration: 3 hrs 40 mins Dark Frames: 20 x 60 secs (20 mins) More details from Wikipedia: NGC 4631 (also known as the Whale Galaxy or Caldwell 32) is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. This galaxy's slightly distorted wedge shape gives it the appearance of a herring or a whale, hence its nickname.[3] Because this nearby galaxy is seen edge-on from Earth, professional astronomers observe this galaxy to better understand the gas and stars located outside the plane of the galaxy. NGC 4631 has a nearby companion dwarf elliptical galaxy, NGC 4627. NGC 4627 and NGC 4631 together were listed in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies as an example of a "double galaxy" or a galaxy pair.[8] NGC 4631 and NGC 4627 are part of the NGC 4631 Group, a group of galaxies that also includes the interacting galaxies NGC 4656 and NGC 4657.[9][10][11][12]
The Crescent Nebula (NGC6888) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, here imaged in narrowband. A large and energetic Wolf-Rayet star that is shedding material via its solar wind. The shock waves of the material traveling at differing speeds heats the gases and causes them to radiate. The star is burning through its fuel and will likely end its life in a supernova explosion. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -20C and Gain:200 Offset:50 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Innovations Foresight ONAG Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Light Frames: Ha: 30 x 360 secs ( 3 hrs) OIII: 29 x 360 secs (2 hrs 54 mins) SII: 25 x 360 secs (2 hrs 30 mins) Red: 15 x 60 secs (15 mins) Green: 13 x 60 secs (13 mins) Blue: 11 x 60 secs (11 mins) 9 hrs 3 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 60 secs, RGB (30 mins) 10 x 360 secs, Ha,OIII,SII (3 hrs) Bias Frames 100 Flat Frames 20 each filter
M106 is joined by a number of other galaxies in this widefield view. 6 NGC galaxies in addition to a large number of small PGC objects can be found in the frame. The largest 3 in addition to M106 (top left center), are the edge on galaxy NGC 4217 (bottom edge), NGC 4220 (right edge), and NGC 4248 (closest to M106). Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:0 Offset:10 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Light Frames: Luminance: 205 x 30 secs (1 hr 42 mins 30 secs) Red:111 x 60 secs (1 hr 51 mins) Green:105 x 60 secs (1 hr 45 mins) Blue: 105 x 60 secs (1 hr 45 mins) 7 hrs 3 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 30 secs, RGB (5 mins) 10 x 60 secs, Luminance (10 mins) Bias Frames 60 Flat Frames 10 each filter More M106 Details from Wikipedia: Messier 106 (also known as NGC 4258) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. M106 is at a distance of about 22 to 25 million light-years away from Earth. M106 contains an active nucleus classified as a Type 2 Seyfert, and the presence of a central supermassive black hole has been demonstrated from radio-wavelength observations of the rotation of a disk of molecular gas orbiting within the inner light-year around the black hole.
