Messier 77 (also known as NGC 1068) is a barred spiral galaxy located 47 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780, who originally described it as a nebula. Méchain then communicated his discovery to Charles Messier, who subsequently listed the object in his catalog. Both Messier and William Herschel described this galaxy wrongly as a star cluster (source: wikipedia). It has a diameter of approximately 170,000 light-years and is visible with binoculars under dark sky conditions as a fuzzy ball with a bright center. With smaller 4-inch scopes like my ED80 the oval shape is apparent but you need 8-inch or larger to bring out the detail (source: Messier). One other noteworthy item with this galaxy is it is believed to have a supermassive black hole in its center.
I collected this image over two nights as it became visible from my observatory. Unfortunately the moon was at 80% and 70% respectively but it was clear so I took a chance anyway. Also it is the beginning of the cold season so astrophotography gets a little more challenging. I am happy with the results considering the moonlight and the limitations of my little ED80. This represents the 47th Messier object I have captured with my setup.
I like the wide field image shown on the original image as five other galaxies are visible, some are very faint and far away making them hard to see.
For my catalog see:
Messier Objects with an ED80 by Kurt Zeppetello (
https://sites.google.com/site/messierobjectsed80/)
or
Messier Astropics by Kurt Zeppetello (
http://astropicskurtzepp.blogspot.ca/)
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