NGC-6503 (Joel Shepherd)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Draco (Dra) · Contains: NGC 6503

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NGC-6503

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NGC-6503

The third in my two-part series of Galaxies that are Too Small for My Telescope, this is NGC-6503: a dwarf spiral galaxy approximately 18 million light-years away in the constellation Draco. It spans 30,000 light-years -- less than a third the size of our Milky Way -- and is colored by red regions of gas scattered throughout its spiral arms, blue regions containing forming stars, and dark brown dust lanes in its arms and center. It lies on the edge of the "local void": a 150 million light-year swath of space, almost totally devoid of galaxies and stars.

This is the first photo I've taken at the telescope's new home at SkyPi, in the mountains of New Mexico. Compared to our light-polluted Seattle skies, there are many differences in the quality of the image, but the most immediate one is the star color: with almost no effort on my part the stars are rich with blues, yellows and reds. The depth and crispness of detail -- of which this little galaxy is probably not the best example -- is remarkably better as well. This is the first photo I've taken under truly dark skies: so far I like what I see.

Original
B
Final
C

B

Description: Yikes ... First attempt was a little harsher than intended. Trying again.

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: Background still darker than intended: trying to lighten it up once more.

Uploaded: ...

The refractors!
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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.
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4707995
PixInsight job	MF0NLOBBHK43BCNSJVI2TLKGEQ1E0VKR
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	17h49m27s.72
RA (top/left)	17h46m15s.58
RA (top/right)	17h52m36s.51
RA (bottom/right)	17h52m43s.65
RA (bottom/left)	17h46m15s.12

Dec (center)	+70°08′37″.2
Dec (top/left)	+69°56′27″.1
Dec (top/right)	+69°56′04″.5
Dec (bottom/right)	+70°20′34″.2
Dec (bottom/left)	+70°20′57″.1

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NGC-6503

NGC-6503

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NGC-6503

NGC-6503

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