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Blue Mountain Vista Observatory New RInggold PA
M66
Messier 66 (M66, NGC 3627) is a magnitude 8.9 Sb galaxy in the constellation of Leo, and is part of the Leo
Triplett with MGC 3628 and M65. The trio is located at a distance of about 35 million light years.
From SEDS: Discovered 1780 by Charles Messier.
The spiral arms of M66 are deformed, probably because of the encounters with its neighbors. They seem to be distorted and displaced above the plane of the galaxy. Note how one of the spiral arms seems to pass over the left side of the central bulge. Much dust is visible here, as well as a few pink nebulae, signs of star formation, near the end of one of the arms.
Date: Feb 29 and Mar 7 2008
Location: New Ringgold PA
Optics: Meade LX200R 12 inch at f/10
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG ST-8XME / CFW-8
Guiding: ST-8XME integral guiding chip controlled by Maxim CCD
Exposure: LRGB: Luminance: 13x6 minutes unbinned; RGB: 8 each binned 2x2 - 5 min for R,G, and 6 min for B for a total of 3.4 hrs.
Processing: Image acquisition using CCD Autopilot. Initial processing was done using Maxim DL with subsequent processing with Photoshop.
From SEDS: Discovered 1780 by Charles Messier.
The spiral arms of M66 are deformed, probably because of the encounters with its neighbors. They seem to be distorted and displaced above the plane of the galaxy. Note how one of the spiral arms seems to pass over the left side of the central bulge. Much dust is visible here, as well as a few pink nebulae, signs of star formation, near the end of one of the arms.
Date: Feb 29 and Mar 7 2008
Location: New Ringgold PA
Optics: Meade LX200R 12 inch at f/10
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG ST-8XME / CFW-8
Guiding: ST-8XME integral guiding chip controlled by Maxim CCD
Exposure: LRGB: Luminance: 13x6 minutes unbinned; RGB: 8 each binned 2x2 - 5 min for R,G, and 6 min for B for a total of 3.4 hrs.
Processing: Image acquisition using CCD Autopilot. Initial processing was done using Maxim DL with subsequent processing with Photoshop.