Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  M 63  ·  NGC 5055  ·  Sunflower Galaxy
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M63 (LRGB + H), rhedden
M63 (LRGB + H)
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M63 (LRGB + H)

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M63 (LRGB + H), rhedden
M63 (LRGB + H)
Powered byPixInsight

M63 (LRGB + H)

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Description

M63 (NGC 5055) is the famous Sunflower galaxy in Canes Venatici. It is of type SAbc and measures about 13' by 7', not including the faint outer star streams.

My Bortle 4/5 skies are not dark enough to pick up those outer star streams with the C11 Edge at f/7, though I think I could detect them with my f/3.6 refractor. I wish I could have shot this image from my dark site, but it's too icy and windy up on the mountain until May.

The core details and colors on this close-up turned out pretty good for a backyard image with modest light pollution. I may have pushed the color saturation a bit too much in my excitement, so let me know in the comments if you think I should tone it down a bit.

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