This is a reprocessing of data captured in 2019, using some more advanced techniques.  In reprocessing, I noticed a dark circular spot in the halo of PGC 83335, the elliptical bordering M 96 at the 2:00 position.  This isn't a processing artifact, as it's visible in other amateur images and this image with the 8.2 meter VLT in the Atacama.  But I haven't come across any explanation for it.  Also note the faint dwarf galaxy above PGC 83335.  That's AGC 202026 (LeG16) according to SIMBAD.  Like M 96, it's associated with a small group of about a dozen galaxies known as Leo I, which includes the Leo Triplet and the M 95/96/105 group.

Messier 96 is an intermediate – showing both barred and non-barred characteristics – spiral galaxy located about 31 million light years away. The galaxy is a member of the Virgo Cluster. It is categorized as a double-barred spiral galaxy, with a small inner bulge through the core along with an outer bulge. The core appears to have a supermassive black hole with a mass between 1.5 and 48 million solar masses.

Seen through the lower spiral arm is the flat galaxy 2MASX J10465229+1150201. This is one member of a galaxy cluster located about 725 million light years away. The dominant galaxy in this cluster is PGC 83335, the bright elliptical located just outside M 96's halo at upper right. Most of the brighter background galaxies in this image appear to be members of this cluster. I haven't been able to find a catalog designation for it.

Exposure: Total exposure time about 10.5 hours, 211:36:34:36 x 2 minutes LRGB. All bin 1x1. Data collected in April and May 2019.
Light pollution: Bortle 7-8 (white zone, NELM about 4.5)
Seeing: Average FWHM of subs around 2.45 arcsecs
Image scale at capture: 0.6 arcsecs/pixel = f/5.7
Scale of presentation: 0.9 arsecs/pixel

Equipment:
Scope: C11 (standard, not Edge) with Celestron 0.63 reducer
Mount: Paramount MX+, connected via ASCOM Telescope Driver 6.1 for TheSkyX, with MKS 5000 driver 6.0.0.0
Camera: SXVR-H694, connected via SX ASCOM driver 6.2.1.17140 (SX 1.2.2 also installed)
Filter wheel: Atik EFW2 with 7x1.25 carousel and Artemis 2.4.3.0 driver
Filters: Astrodon 5nm Ha/SII, 3nm OIII, Type IIi LRGB
Rotator: Optec Pyxis 2", connected via Andy Galasso's 0.4 driver (Optec Pyxis Rotator AG)
Focuser: Rigel Systems GCUSB nStep motor with driver version 6.0.7 on stock Celestron focuser
OAG: Orion Thin OAG
Guide cam: Lodestar (first generation). 4 second exposures
Automation SW: Sequence Generator Pro 3.0.0.8
Guide SW: PHD2.6.3, connected to guide cam via native SXV driver
ASCOM: ASCOM 6.3.0.2831
Platesolving: PlateSolve 2, failover to local Astrometry.net 0.19 server
Collimation: Metaguide 3, using ASI120MM connected via ZWO Direct Show driver 3.0.0.2
Processing Workflow by Workspace in PixInsight 1.86

1. Processing
Calibration with WeightedBatchPreProcessing with flats and bias, using Cosmetic Correction with a master dark
Blink to preview and manually reject a few frames
Weighting, registration and integration with WBPP
RGB Combination for RGB frames
Dynamic Background Extraction on luminance and RGB images
ImageSolve RGB, then run Spectrophotometric Color Calibration, using Average Spiral Galaxy white reference
BlurXterminator using Correct First on luminance and RGB
NoiseXterminator on luminance and RGB

2. Luminance Stretching
Histo Trans x 3
Curves Trans
Second curves trans, using a mask to bring out the arms without blowing out the core
Mild Localized Histogram Equalization to enhance contrast between arms
I saved images with two different levels of stretching, using one for the bright core and one for the spiral arms

3. RGB Stretching
Create a saturation mask: apply ScreenTransferFunction to Histo Trans, then apply to the stretched luminance image. if needed. Blur the mask slightly with Convolution.
Histo Trans x 2
Curves Trans to boost saturation, using the saturation mask to prevent spurious background colors from being boosted
Curves Trans to brighten
Color Mask script to select magenta, then using that as a mask I used Curves I pulled down red and pulled green up to fix the colors

4. Color Blending
LRGB Combine, making separate images for the core and the spiral arms
Mild Multiscale Linear Transform and Localized Histogram Equalization to restore detail in the core
Layer together the core and spiral arms images in Photoshop, using a mask

5. Background Subtraction (Artificial Flat)
Broadband images captured with my (non-Edge) C11 usually had circular artifacts left over from flat calibration, because it’s basically impossible to create accurate flats when the mirror shifts while capturing light frames. To remove these artifacts, I create and subtract an artificial flat, which is simply an image of the messy background, with all stars and imaging targets removed.
a. Create an image of the background by removing stars with StarXterminator
b. Clean this image up in Photoshop, removing any leftover stars
c. Blur this background image slightly (otherwise in the next step you’ll remove all the noise, creating an unnatural-looking noiseless image)
d. Subtract the background from the main image (adding an offset, to avoiding having a pure black background), using a mask to protect the galaxy from being subtracted out

6. Final
Final Histogram Transformation
ICC Profile Transform to sRGB
Rescale to 0.9 arcsecs/pixel
Save as JPG