Sunflower galaxy
A Kansan at heart, I like the looks of Messier 63, aka Sunflower Galaxy. I used Jim Misti’s raw data to follow a PixInsight tutorial, and this is the result. I keep saying this, but Real Soon Now I will resume using photons that I have gathered myself. It appears that my favorite LightBuckets site is being reborn and relocated to southern France. It may go live any day now.
Image data acquired by Jim Misti
From Wikipedia,
The Sunflower Galaxy (also known as Messier 63, M63, or NGC 5055) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici consisting of a central disc surrounded by many short spiral arm segments. The Sunflower Galaxy is part of the M51 Group, a group of galaxies that also includes the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51).
The Sunflower Galaxy was discovered by Pierre Méchain on June 14, 1779. The galaxy was then listed by Charles Messier as object 63 in the Messier Catalogue.
In the mid-19th century, Lord Rosse identified spiral structure within the galaxy, making this one of the first galaxies in which such structure was identified.
In 1971, a supernova with a magnitude of 11.8 appeared in one of the arms of M63.
Now you know.
Dave, who is just itching to get at that big telescope in France.
P.S. There are at least two baby (distant) galaxies in this image. Can you find them?
I need a hint! I can’t see any baby galaxies.
Nice color gradations, Dad. French pixels in your future, eh? Maybe Leslie can play an accordion accompaniment, a sound-track for your images.
Hint #1: Click on image twice for maximum magnification.
Hint #2: If a “star” is any shape but a round disk, it is a galaxy.