This isn't quite finished, as I need to capture some more data for enough image quality for a full bin 1, 0.5 arc second per pixel final image. However, the subject is interesting and I thought I would show the work in progress at 1 arc second per pixel.

Each 10 minute "exposure" is actually a 10 minute live stack of 400 x 1.5 second subs. I had to shoot at -10C cooling because the night time temps were well above 70F, so I couldn't cool to -15C.

I was capturing an image of my target NGC 7013, but noted that there seemed to be something in the upper left corner of the image that wasn't in my planetarium software. As it turns out, I unexpectedly captured a molecular cloud (at the upper right side of the image) in the disk of The Milk Way with NGC 7013 peeking out just above (or below?) the plane of our galaxy. According to the SIMBAD database, this molecular cloud has two designations, the upper portion being PGCC G075.24-10.99 and the lower portion designated PGCC G075.19-10.98. You can see some noise in parts of these clouds because I didn't quite have enough data in that region in the mosaic. I wasn't worried about this, since I wasn't expecting anything up there, but now I have to go back to a dark sky site and capture some more data on both the galaxy and the surrounding sky. Then I will reprocess the image for a final bin 1, 0.5 arc seconds per pixel image.

Note the warped mis-alignment of the inner bright disk of NGC7013 and its fainter outer regions. This reminds me of the recently published paper suggesting that our own galaxy (in the foreground!) may have a similar warping in its disk. Lots of little galaxies scattered about too, including 16th magnitude PGC 1881063, just at the lower end of the disk of NGC 7013. There doesn't seem to be any distance data on this galaxy, so I am not sure if it is a small companion to the larger galaxy or a distant galaxy behind it. There isn't even any morphology data on it, although it looks to me like it might be a dwarf elliptical.