I Pulled an all nighter to hopefully grab some clear skies in the wee hours as the Australian East coast weather has been abysmal this summer with only 1 or 2 opportunities available !
I was shown my first supernova in this spectacular galaxy buy a visual mentor Ron Knight in the 2000's through his 16" F4.5 Dob. I then spied it in my 10" F6 ATM dob. I'd love a lot more data so no awards coming this way but I am fortunate to grab at least a representation The following Description from IOTD.
Large spiral galaxy NGC 4945 is seen
edge-on near the center of this
cosmic galaxy portrait. In fact, NGC 4945 is almost the size of our own
Milky Way Galaxy. Its own dusty disk, young blue star clusters, and pink star forming regions standout in the sharp, colorful telescopic image. About 13 million light-years distant toward the
expansive southern constellation
Centaurus, NGC 4945 is only about six times farther away than Andromeda, the nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. Though the galaxy's central region is largely hidden from view for optical telescopes, X-ray and infrared observations indicate
significant high energy emission and star formation in the core
of NGC 4945. Its obscured but active nucleus qualifies the gorgeous island universe as
a Seyfert galaxy and home to a central supermassive black hole.
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