Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  M 106  ·  NGC 4248  ·  NGC 4258
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M106 (widefield), GeOK
M106 (widefield)
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M106 (widefield)

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M106 (widefield), GeOK
M106 (widefield)
Powered byPixInsight

M106 (widefield)

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Description

The galaxy M106 is about 31Mly away, is about the same size and luminosity as the Andromeda galaxy, and is also known as NGC4258.  The supermassive black hole near its center has a mass equivalent to about 40 million suns, is very active and probably causes the galaxy to be classified as a type 2 Seyfert galaxy.  This type of galactic core is surrounded by a disk of accreting matter that generates enormous energy especially at ultraviolet and x-ray wavelengths, thought to be related to but dimmer than distant quasars.  

This image was processed using PixInsight and noise reduction techniques as taught by Jon Rista resulting in preserving many other interesting features.  Some of these features were galaxies and quasars down to about 21st magnitude and at distances of 8.6 Bly and 13.2 Bly respectively.  See the next uploaded image that is annotated to see these photons captured from near the beginning of this universe using just an 8" SCT from a driveway in Truckee, CA.

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M106 (widefield), GeOK