This object is an edge-on lenticular galaxy located 50 million light years away in the constellation of Draco at a declination of +56 degrees. This 9.9 magnitude galaxy spans 4 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to an actual diameter of 60,000 light years.

Like most lenticular galaxies, few details are apparent. However, the edge-on orientation presents us with a nice view of the dust band. The band appears slightly warped, indicating that this galaxy may have interacted with another galaxy in the distant past. The right edge of the disk appears slightly bluer than the rest of the disk. This is one of many galaxies called the Spindle Galaxy.

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Some of you have asked about my target selection process each night. I use the Astroplanner program, which essentially is a fancy sortable database that contains targets I have accumulated over the years. When I started this hobby, I used a copy of Astroplanner on my outside computer for my target selection, but I found that process to be slow and cumbersome. So each week, I make a list of targets on a notecard (see attached image).

As you can see, the card contains 15 or so targets, with name, transit time, and declination. It is not shown on this card because it is a new moon week, but I usually also include the degrees from the moon for each object. I try to have a range of declination in case, like yesterday, a cloud bank hangs over part of the sky, leaving other parts clear. At the top of the card I put the range of nautical time (imaging start and stop times) for that week. Note that I sometimes have alternative designations, or even nearby star names, next to the target names, for obscure targets which sometimes don't show up in my sky atlas software.

I put little stars next to the first priority objects, and circles (with letters inside) indicating incomplete targets and the type of subs still needed. The card is probably more work than most people need, but I am fanatical about utilizing every minute of clear sky time. If clouds appear in part of the sky, or a target looks really bad in the subs, or if seeing is bad at low altitudes, I want to be able to switch quickly to a better target.

I usually don't complete all of these targets in one week, so several may carry over to the next week or may be dropped off of the list for better objects coming into view.