|
Instrument |
Takahashi FSQ-106ED @
f/5.0 (530 mm F.L.) Captured at 2.1 arcsec/pixel. Shown at 2.1
and 7.28 arcsec/pixel. |
|
Mount |
Losmandy G11 with Gemini L4 v1.0 |
|
Camera |
SBIG STF-8300M Self
Guiding Package w/ mono ST-i, using Baader RGB filters. |
|
Acquisition Data |
1/23/2014 to 2/26/2014 Chino Valley, AZ... with CCDSoft & CCDAutoPilot. |
|
Exposure |
|
Lum |
430 min. (43 x
10 min. Binned 1x1 |
|
Red |
90 min. (
6 x
15 min. " |
|
Green
|
105 min. ( 7 x 15 min.
" |
|
Blue
|
120 min. ( 8 x 15 min.
" |
|
|
Software & Processing Notes |
-
CCDSoft, CCDStack, PixInsight
and Photoshop CS6.
-
eXcalibrator v4.25
for (g:r) color balancing, using 113 stars from the SDSS-DR9
database.
-
CCDStack to
calibrate, register, normalize, data reject, combine the sub
exposures and to create the RGB
image.
-
PixInsight for
gradient removal and initial non-linear stretching.
-
PhotoShop for the
LRGB
combine and final touch-up.
-
Noiseware 5, a
PhotoShop plug-in.
|
|
Comment |
North is to the
top.
This beautiful group
of galaxies is located in the constellation of Leo. At the top of
the image is the edge on galaxy NGC 3628, at a distance of about 53
million light years. Stretching to the left of NGC 3628 is a
remarkable tidal tail with the length of about 300,000 light years.
The spiral galaxy at the bottom far right is M65, at a distance of
about 52 million light years. The lowermost galaxy is M66, about
48,000,000 light-years from Earth.
Charles Messier discovered M65 and M66 in 1780. William Herschel
discovered NGC 3628 in 1784.
|
