Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Pisces (Psc)  ·  Contains:  M 74  ·  NGC 628
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M74 (NGC628) Phantom Galaxy, niteman1946
M74 (NGC628) Phantom Galaxy
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M74 (NGC628) Phantom Galaxy

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M74 (NGC628) Phantom Galaxy, niteman1946
M74 (NGC628) Phantom Galaxy
Powered byPixInsight

M74 (NGC628) Phantom Galaxy

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Description

Messier 74 (also known as NGC 628 and Phantom Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces. It is at a distance of about 32 million light-years away from Earth. The galaxy contains two clearly defined spiral arms and is therefore used as an archetypal example of a grand design spiral galaxy. The galaxy's low surface brightness makes it the most difficult Messier object for amateur astronomers to observe. It has the second lowest surface brightness of all the Messier objects. (M101 has the lowest.). However, the relatively large angular size of the galaxy and the galaxy's face-on orientation make it an ideal object for professional astronomers who want to study spiral arm structure and spiral density waves. It is estimated that M74 is home to about 100 billion stars.

M74 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780. Méchain then communicated his discovery to Charles Messier, who listed the galaxy in his catalog. It is located 1.5° east-northeast of Eta Piscium.

Three supernovae have been identified in M74: SN 2002ap, SN 2003gd, and SN 2013ej. Supernova 2013ej was noted for being as bright as 10th magnitude when viewed from the surface of Earth.

SN 2002ap has attracted considerable attention because it is one of the few Type Ic supernovae (or hypernovae) observed within 10 Mpc in recent years. This supernova has been used to test theories on the origins of similar Type Ic supernovae at higher distances and theories on the connection between supernovae and gamma ray bursts.

SN 2003gd is a Type II-P supernova. Type II supernovae have known luminosities, so they can be used to accurately measure distances. Ben E. K. Sugerman found a "light echo" – a reflection of supernova explosion that appeared after the explosion itself – associated with SN 2003gd. This is one of the few supernovae in which such a reflection has been found. This reflection appears to be from dust in a sheet-like cloud that lies in front of the supernova, and it can be used to determine the composition of the interstellar dust.

On March 22, 2005, it was announced that the Chandra X-ray Observatory had observed an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) in M74, radiating more X-ray power than a neutron star in periodic intervals of around two hours. It has an estimated mass of around 10,000 Suns. This is an indicator of an intermediate-mass black hole. This would be a rather uncommon class of black holes, somewhere in between in size of stellar black holes and the massive black holes theorized to reside in the center of many galaxies. Because of this, they are believed to form not from single supernovae, but possibly from a number of lesser stellar black holes in a star cluster. [Source: Wikipedia]

CAPTURE Information:

The image was captured with the iOptron CEM120 mount , the venerable Meade 12"LX200 SCT, and my Atik 383L+ mono CCD at F7.16 (2182mm FL). Image subs were taken through Astronomik's filter Lum, along with R, G and B. All subs were done at 1x1 bin, -10C, at 10 minutes each.

IMAGE information -- 2019 & 2020

Lum: 39 subs (6.50 hr) on Dec 29th and 30th, and Jan 11th.

Red: 25 subs (4.17 hr) on Dec 17th and 19th.

Green: 23 subs (3.83 hr) on Dec 22nd and 29th.

Blue: 25 subs (4.17 hr) on Dec 19th and 22nd.

North is to the right (I think), and this is a slight crop due to the various movement of different subs.

COMMENTS:

This is my first run at M74. The nebula is located in the southern portion of the sky. Given the timing I was working in between clouds and the moon.

Because it was a spiral galaxy, I captured 17 subs of Ha (2.83 hr, not used) in order to enhance the star burst features. I followed Harry's guide as previously but could not get a good result. Barring further enlightening, I'll chalk the failure up to too little Ha signal.

UPDATE : Jan 15, 2020

Added a reworked version with a bit more snap to it. Not sure it's an improvement.

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  • M74 (NGC628) Phantom Galaxy, niteman1946
    Original
  • Final
    M74 (NGC628) Phantom Galaxy, niteman1946
    B

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M74 (NGC628) Phantom Galaxy, niteman1946