Instrument

Celestron C11 @  ~f/10.48 (2930 mm fl) 1.265 arcsec / pixel.

Mount

Paramount ME

Camera

SBIG STL-11000 w/ internal filter wheel, AstroDon Filters

Acquisition Date

12/04/2007 to 12/15/2007  Chino Valley... with CCDAutoPilot3

Exposure

Lum    460 min.  (46 x 10 bin 2x2)
RGB    210 min.  (7 x 10 bin 3x3) each

Software

CCDSoft, Sigma-Clip, Photoshop CS w/ the Fits Liberator plugin, Paint Shop Pro,and Noel Carboni's actions

Comment

North is to the top.

Located in Camelopardis, this barred spiral galaxy is one of the largest in the northern sky and has a visible mini-spiral core.  Two strong, curved shock fronts curl around a nuclear feature in ring or unresolved spiral arms. The narrow dust lanes along the bar are created by shocks in the interstellar gas due to the potential of the bar.

Source: Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF