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Click the image for a higher
resolution and wider
view. (2400 x 1800 - 1.23 MB)
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Instrument |
Takahashi FSQ-106ED @
f/5.0 (530 mm F.L.) Captured at 2.1 arcsec/pixel. Shown at 2.86 and
9.14 arcsec/pixel. |
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Mount |
Losmandy G11 with Gemini L4 v1.0 |
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Camera |
SBIG STF-8300M Self
Guiding Package w/ mono ST-i, using an AstroDon Ha and Baader LRGB
filters. |
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Acquisition Data |
3/15/2015 to 4/8/2015
Chino Valley, AZ |
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Exposure |
|
Lum |
238 min. (34 x
7 min.) binned 1x1 |
|
Ha |
600 min. (40 x
15 min.) |
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Red |
90 min. (13 x
7 min.) " |
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Green
|
105 min. (15 x 7 min.)
" |
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Blue
|
210 min. (30 x 7 min.)
" |
eXcalibrator
RGB ratios are 1.00, 1.26 & 1.42 |
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Software & Processing Notes |
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CCDSoft, CCDStack,
PixInsight & Photoshop CS6.
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eXcalibrator
v4.30 for (u-g), (g-r) color balancing, using 15 stars from the
SDSS-DR9 database.
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CCDStack to
calibrate all sub exposures, register and stack the color and create the RGB image.
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PixInsight
processing includes registering and stacking the luminance,
gradient repair, non-linear stretching with HistogramTransformation,
LRGB creation
and HDRMultiscaleTransform, with various layer counts, to
selectively enhance the detail of the
galaxies.
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PhotoShop for
the final touch up.
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Noiseware 5, a
PhotoShop plug-in.
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Comment |
North is to the
top.
Discovered by Pierre
Méchain, in 1781, Messier 106 (also known as NGC 4258) is a spiral
galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. M106 is at a distance of
about 23 million light-years from Earth. It is also a Seyfert II
galaxy, which means that due to x-rays and unusual emission lines
detected, it is suspected that part of the galaxy is falling into a
supermassive black hole in the center.
NGC 4248, to the right, at a distance of about 21 million
light-years is a possible companion galaxy. |
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