M63 (2023) (Kurt Zeppetello)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: M 63 · NGC 5055 · PGC 2189676 · PGC 2191533 · PGC 2191787 · PGC 2193890 · PGC 2194083 · PGC 46093 · Sunflower Galaxy

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M63 (2023)

Link: http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1

Powered byPixInsight

M63 (2023)

Link: http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1

Messier 63 (a.k.a. M63, NGC 5055, or the Sunflower Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. At approximately 30 million light-years away and 100 thousand across the galaxy contains a central disc surrounded by many short spiral arm segments. It is part of the M51 Group, a group of galaxies that also includes M51 (the 'Whirlpool Galaxy'). Also of note, in 1971, a supernova with a magnitude of 11.8 appeared in one of the arms. The spiral nature of the arms appears to be discontinuous and loose in visible light so it is also considered a flocculent galaxy.

This is a very popular image among astrophotographers so it may be surprising that it is only the second time I imaged this, the first time was an unimpressive attempt from over six years ago. As usual I have three different versions differing mainly in the color and not which is the best. However, I believe this version highlights the fine detail the best. I find these larger galaxies particularly challenging to process due to the color varitions.

I did not collect any hydrogen data but I wish I would have plenty of rich star forming Ha regions in this galaxy. One thing that I did not capture are some newly detected very faint arc star streams believed to be remnents of satellite galaxies distorted by tidal forces. To capture this a faster scope along with darker site would be required or highly recommended.

I had to trash 120 exposures (one night's worth of data) due to smoke from wildfires in Alberta. Lastly, I seemed to have improved my star shapes by loosing and tightening the screws holding the dew heater ring which may have been pinching the corrector plate.

Imaged with APT
Northeast Imagers
N.I.N.A. Users

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The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
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Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	7814432
PixInsight job	I528HNDVXB59BWHAVYLVLA3Y4OXAF8MJ
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	13h15m48s.590
RA (top/left)	13h17m11s.662
RA (top/right)	13h14m13s.335
RA (bottom/right)	13h14m25s.119
RA (bottom/left)	13h17m22s.198

Dec (center)	+42°01′13″.45
Dec (top/left)	+42°14′08″.49
Dec (top/right)	+42°11′08″.42
Dec (bottom/right)	+41°48′15″.40
Dec (bottom/left)	+41°51′12″.10

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M63 (2023)

M63 (2023)

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M63 (2023)

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