NGC 2403 imaged between aurora (Ian Dixon)

NGC 2403 imaged between aurora

Revision title: version e

NGC 2403

Hello all,

This image was gathered on the evening of September 3 in the midst of a string of days marked by some unusually clear weather.

NGC 2403 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in Camelopardalis and a member of the M81 Group - its only 8 million light-years distant. As I processed it I was struck by its similarity to the shape and brightness to M33. 2403 is about 50,000 light years in diameter and contains star-forming Hydrogen regions. In my image, much of the outlying arms and body bore a blueish tinge.

Star party - well attended with a full complement of 3 Kevins (W, G and B), as well as Marc and Davey. We were missing Ryan W who was at his own cabin.

Backstory of the title: I polar aligned (using the very good losmandy polar scope in my mount and double checking with the software) focused, plate solved the target and began imaging at 10 pm - what a pleasure to shoot the target this early!! I was able to grab about an hour on 2403 before the dull green dome began to announce itself in the north. Soon this erupted into pickets of green extending 20 or even 30 degrees southward, and washing out my target. At about 2 am those aurora calmed down and I returned from southerly targets, executed a refocus and shot 2403 again. The total time on was only about 2.5 hours, but I hope you like it.

Thanks for looking.

Ian

Original
B
D
Final
E

B

Description: Cropped slightly

Uploaded: ...

D

Description: An example of the aurora we've experienced this week. This is an iPhone image - a 10 second hand held exposure taken by one of my kids. A very steady hand! Thanks Camille, you are a budding astronomer.

Uploaded: ...

E

Title: version e

Uploaded: ...

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6971190
PixInsight job	HRSLZQDNYTDEK5O7USY0NGN9BD1GOKTK
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	07h36m04s.35
RA (top/left)	07h43m34s.82
RA (top/right)	07h35m21s.87
RA (bottom/right)	07h28m30s.41
RA (bottom/left)	07h36m44s.69

Dec (center)	+65°39′49″.9
Dec (top/left)	+65°30′37″.2
Dec (top/right)	+66°27′01″.4
Dec (bottom/right)	+65°47′31″.2
Dec (bottom/left)	+64°52′35″.3

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