I have always wanted to capture this intriguing galaxy along with the faint ribbon of IFN that fortunately is located in the the direct foreground line of sight. Steve and I had a few trials during the data capture with snagging cables, electrical and internet outages and poor Spring weather that has curtailed the total integration. However we did gather sufficient to process an image and the central regions of the Black Eye galaxy are just about resolved enough to display the dark band of light absorbing dust that creates the "black eye".
From Wikipedia: The
Black Eye Galaxy (also called
Sleeping Beauty Galaxy or
Evil Eye Galaxy and designated
Messier 64,
M64, or
NGC 4826) is a relatively isolated
[7]spiral galaxy 17 million
light-years away in the mildly northern
constellation of
Coma Berenices. It was discovered by
Edward Pigott in March 1779, and independently by
Johann Elert Bode in April of the same year, as well as by
Charles Messier the next year. A dark band of
absorbing dust partially in front of its bright nucleus gave rise to its nicknames of the "Black Eye", "Evil Eye", or "Sleeping Beauty" galaxy.
[11][12] M64 is well known among
amateur astronomers due to its form in small
telescopes and visibility across inhabited latitudes."
Acquisition: Barry Wilson & Steve Milne
Processing: Barry Wilson
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