M63, the Sun flower galaxy in L-Ha-RGB (Nicola Beltraminelli)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: M 63 · NGC 5055 · Sunflower Galaxy

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M63, the Sun flower galaxy in L-Ha-RGB

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M63, the Sun flower galaxy in L-Ha-RGB

M63, designated NGC 5055, is a grand design spiral galaxy characterized by well-defined spiral arms and a prominent bulge. Located in the constellation Canes Venatici, it is positioned at a distance of ~27 million LY. With an apparent magnitude of 9.3, the galaxy exhibits a rich population of star forming regions particularly along its spiral arms. Previous observations of M63 have uncovered the presence of multiple arches and "plumes" of low surface brightness on its periphery.

The objective of this project was to generate a detailed version of the galaxy and the same time to show the described arches and "plumes" of low surface brightness. I therefore shooted 600s images in L, R, G, B and Ha, so to collect maximum light for all channels. During the reconstitution of the L-HaRGB image, I generated several L and combined RGB layers of various intensity, so to capture both the bright regions, as well as the dim ones. I then combined the layers with masks by using Adobe PS. I was honestly impressed by the multitude of small and dim galaxies in the field (possibly >100!) and I was happy to see that the colors of these tiny galaxies are also visible. About the arches, these are indeed very dim, but visible in the image. I could have pushed more on the dim regions, but, from my perspective, this would have ended to an unbalanced illustration of the galaxy.

As usual don't hesitate to provide constructive input on the image.

CS,

Nicola

Original
Final
B

B

Description: Increased the light of the dim regions to show the stellar tidal stream

Uploaded: ...

Processed with Photoshop
Astrophotographes (France)
Fine Art Astrophotography
ASI 6200 MM Pro

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	9304196
PixInsight job	FRHKJYMHJ54YA4N797GOK6ZLYZW9MT4F
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	13h15m49s.217
RA (top/left)	13h18m49s.945
RA (top/right)	13h12m41s.487
RA (bottom/right)	13h12m50s.777
RA (bottom/left)	13h18m54s.669

Dec (center)	+42°01′44″.76
Dec (top/left)	+42°25′16″.10
Dec (top/right)	+42°23′17″.77
Dec (bottom/right)	+41°37′56″.61
Dec (bottom/left)	+41°39′52″.81

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M63, the Sun flower galaxy in L-Ha-RGB

M63, the Sun flower galaxy in L-Ha-RGB

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M63, the Sun flower galaxy in L-Ha-RGB

M63, the Sun flower galaxy in L-Ha-RGB

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