Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  M 63  ·  NGC 5055  ·  Sunflower Galaxy
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Messier 63 - Sunflower Galaxy, Michel Makhlouta
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Messier 63 - Sunflower Galaxy

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Messier 63 - Sunflower Galaxy, Michel Makhlouta
Powered byPixInsight

Messier 63 - Sunflower Galaxy

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Description

Messier 63, also known as the Sunflower Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici, located roughly 27 million light-years away from Earth.

It has a spatial diameter of 98,000 light years, which makes it roughly the same size as the Milky Way, and it is estimated to host more than 400 billion stars.

It was a rough start with the new setup, mainly due to the Celestron focus motor. After I had to accommodate for its weird needs so it doesn't disconnect ever few seconds, I couldn't get it to work with the autofocus routine. SGP was able to draw that nice graph, find the ideal focus point for the smallest HFR, but the validation exposure (and any other exposure) always had an HFR much higher than the one found during the routine. Playing around the backlash settings didn't help.

Another problem was finding a star in the OAG, and finding another one after the meridian flip. Maybe I need to invest in a more sensitive camera.

Feedback is always appreciated, and if you have any idea on the above issue, please do let me know!

Clear Skies!

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Messier 63 - Sunflower Galaxy, Michel Makhlouta