M63 the Sunflower Galaxy: In between the unusually cloudy skies we have been having I manager to get some shots of M63 also known as the Sunflower Galaxy. This spiral galaxy is ~29.3...

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M63 the Sunflower Galaxy

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Jun 24, 2023 01:06:59 #

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

In between the unusually cloudy skies we have been having I manager to get some shots of M63 also known as the Sunflower Galaxy. This spiral galaxy is ~29.3 Million light years away and can be found in constellation known as Canes Venatici. Although about the same size as the Milkyway it is suspected of containing a central Blackhole with a mass of ~850 million solar masses (The central Blackhole in the milkyway is ~4 million solar masses in size).

The first image was taken using Luminance (L), Red (R), Green(G) and Blue (B) filters in order to create a full color image with the mono camera used. The second image is also LRGB but added in frames to the red channel taken with a 5-nanometer narrow band Hydrogen Alpha filter. The narrow band Ha data show's locations where hydrogen gas is emitting strongly in the Hydrogen Alpha spectrum at 656nanometers. This tends to indicate where nebula with active star formation exist.
In you look closely at the image you can find many more distance galaxies in the background.
All questions, comments and suggestions are welcome.

For those interested. The images were taken through a 16 inch Schmidt Cassegrain with a focal length of 4064mm. The camera uses was an ASI 6200mm pro monocamera. All frames were taken with the camera gain set to 100, the camera temperature set to -13C and the binning set to 2x2. All appropriate Bias, dark and flat frames were used to calibrate the images. At 2x2 binning each pixel represents .38 arc seconds which is higher than the seeing allowed with the long exposures.

The flowing frames were used for the photos. (The somewhat odd numbers of the exposures are due to some shots being thrown out due to clouds or atmospheric turbulence.)
Luminance 54 frames at 3 minutes each
Red 27 frames at 4 minutes each
Green 31 frames at 4 minutes each
Blue 26 frames at 4 minutes each
Ha 24 frames at 10 minutes each

Total integration time 7 hours 18 minutes

LRGB image of M63
LRGB image of M63...